Jack couldn't remember how long it'd been since he'd sprinted for dear life like this. But damn the fatigue in his muscles because catching Tony was more important than anything else right now. In a way, it still didn't feel real. He hadn't really seen him up properly face-to-face, just the pixellated CCTV image Agent Walker had shown him. With his mind already slipping back into agent mode, he could almost treat this as running after any other suspect. That was a strange thing to think about: Tony Almeida being a suspect and not someone to speak to through his comm or otherwise work with. The sinking feeling in his chest still hadn't gone away since he'd seen the photo. He had to wonder how he would feel when he finally got close enough to take a good look at him.
He didn't even know where Agent Walker was by this point; he was so focused on getting to Tony. Jack chased him around the boat until he finally spotted him, yelling at him to stop, raising his gun without hesitation. But Tony didn't listen. The polite but brusque facade Jack had kept up all morning was suddenly fading. He couldn't take it anymore. He had been angry about the senate hearing long before this day, but that anger was now overshadowed by a much larger feeling of anger over not being able to comprehend what Tony was doing. Jack lunged towards him. Neither of them held back, Jack too fuelled by betrayal and Tony too fuelled by something that Jack was desperate to understand. Eventually, he managed to pin him against a shipping crate, feeling Tony's hot breaths on his face and blood on his knuckles.
Tony's eyes met his, and he looked into them, hoping for an answer, a sign that he was still the same person he had known for all these years. They stared back coldly, meanly, almost, but Jack didn't believe it for a second. There had to be something more. That was all he'd told himself this morning since he'd seen the photo, that Tony wasn't a terrorist, he wasn't a bad person, there had to be a good reason for all of this. His eyelid twitched a little. There was a flinch, a very subtle one, but a flinch nonetheless, as though he was trying to look behind him. He could hear footsteps and assumed they were Agent Walker's. But then Tony gave a slight nod, making Jack furrow his brow.
A sharp pain suddenly pierced his shoulder, and Jack realised his assumption was wrong. His vision started to blur, but he watched Tony's expression soften, and Jack felt something lift in him. It seemed to remove some of the haze of uncertainty surrounding this whole morning. He felt himself fall to the ground, but not before a set of arms could catch him from behind.
"Sorry, Jack." A voice whispered. Female. But not Agent Walker's. It was familiar. Much more familiar.
And as the world faded to black, Jack realised this situation was far more complicated than he could ever imagine.