Post-S3: Baker City (Day 2)

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Audrey glanced at the secure phone on her table. Next to it, the small panic button lay hidden inside a key tag—its unassuming shape concealing the device that might one day save her life. The ride to work today had been a surreal experience, bringing home the reality of the threat now looming over her and her father's lives. At precisely 7:40 a.m., she'd dialed the Secret Service, who had arrived promptly by 8:00. Then Agent Garrett and his colleague, Agent Callahan, had awaited her in front of the house, the vehicle waiting with professional precision and a silent nod that offered further reassurance. It all felt oddly orchestrated. Or like a nightmare which she'd forgotten to wake up from.

As she climbed into the car, the reality of the security detail settled in. Garrett, stationed beside her in the backseat, offered a polite nod, and his colleague, Agent Callahan, the driver, introduced himself, since he hadn't had the chance to, yesterday. He glanced back through the mirror to confirm she was ready. Something about his name struck her—a flash of memory from one of her late-night calls with Jack. His mother's maiden name had been Callahan.

In a moment of curiosity, Audrey looked at Callahan's reflection in the mirror. "Callahan," she said with a soft smile. "Any chance you're related to a Callahan family in LA?"

Agent Callahan looked at her with a mild grin and shook his head. "No, ma'am. Boston born and raised, but as far as I know, no family out west." He returned his gaze to the road, a small, courteous answer that satisfied her curiosity, though she found herself smiling. There was no relation, she told herself, yet the coincidence gave her a moment of connection in an otherwise tense day. She'd remember his name, for sure.

The streets rolled past, as usual, but the usual calm of her morning commute had vanished. She sat, aware of every movement, feeling exposed despite the protection surrounding her. Even the routine security checks at the Pentagon carried a new weight, for the first time she saw them not as a senseless, unnerving, stupid ritual, but as something useful.

Yet her colleagues remained oblivious, as she and her father had agreed to keep the threat hidden from as many as possible. Deny it. Lie about it. Hide the presence of the Secret Service wherever they could. Anyone without Clearance Level 8 was a potential risk now, a strange thought, given that she'd worked alongside many of them for years.

She glanced back at the secure phone. She wanted to call Jack, to tell him everything, despite him having no clearance level at all. The past 24 hours had unsettled her in ways she wasn't prepared to face alone, and with every passing hour, the weight of it felt harder to carry in silence. Tonight, she reminded herself, she could call him more freely. By then, her apartment would be swept for bugs, and she could call him without taking a risk. But part of her longed for his voice, now.

A glance at her wristwatch told her it was already four in the afternoon—one o'clock in Oregon. She couldn't help but wonder if he'd already made it to Baker City, if he'd tracked down Reid. The thought lingered, followed by a faint worry: was Jack already several drinks deep, lost in old rituals? She remembered the times he'd spent days recovering after the last reunion like this, with Al, working through the whiskey haze to balance his need for connection while the presence of his cold comrades fueled memories that haunted him. If that were the case, she knew he might not pick up—not today, maybe not even tomorrow, depending on how long this binge with Reid would last.

But it was still early afternoon there, and she felt the urge to try, to catch him while she still could. Standing up, she slipped out of her office and made her way to one of the conference rooms, dialing the secure line and waiting, heart in her throat as the line rang, once, twice, three times. A part of her could already picture him on the road, as he drove his bike up the empty Oregon highway. Or perhaps he'd reached Baker City, his voice lost somewhere in a bar or Reid's place, sharing stories only the two of them understood.

Then the line clicked, breaking her thoughts. It wasn't Jack's voice on the other end; instead, a woman's voice, brisk and unfamiliar, answered.

"Just a moment," the voice said, calling for him in the background.

Audrey felt the ground shift beneath her, a pang of frustration lancing through her surprise. Jack was supposed to keep that phone hidden, a line for him alone, something the two of them shared in secrecy. The risks she'd taken to get it to him, the chance she'd taken with her own position, were part of their unspoken understanding. She'd trusted him with that, and now, hearing someone else holding it, that fragile trust felt strained. Her hand tightened on the receiver, and she waited, hearing his voice approach as he took the phone.

"Hey," he greeted her, and she could hear him stepping away from the background noise, seeking a quieter space. "Sorry about that."

"Who was she?" The words left her lips before she could stop herself, laced with a sharper edge than she intended. Her tone had shifted from anger to restraint, but Jack must have heard it; his answer came quickly, an apology couched in the explanation she hadn't asked for.

"Reid's girlfriend," he replied, trying to reassure her, to bring her back into the familiar space of their shared confidence. "They both don't know how a DoD secure phone looks like. Reid's been away from active duty for more than 10 years. They think it's just a regular cell phone," he added, keeping his voice low enough to stay between them.

Some of her frustration eased, her shoulders relaxing as she heard his words. But she couldn't shake the feeling that he was somewhere he couldn't freely speak, at least not about the confidential things she wanted to tell him.

Audrey took a breath, letting herself relax slightly as Jack's familiar voice filled the line, his usual calm giving her a small sense of stability. He recounted his day in Baker City, his words painting a picture of quiet simpleness that felt worlds away from the anxieties now clouding her own life. He told her how he'd arrived earlier than expected and, to his surprise, had found Reid's address listed plainly in the local phone book.

Jack's arrival had caught Reid completely off guard. As Jack rolled his bike into the driveway, he spotted Reid working in the wide yard behind the old, small house, high up on the frame of a new, larger house, he was just building. Reid was hoisting the ridge beam into place. As Jack took off his helmet, Reid needed a few moments to recognize the familiar face after so many years. But then, his initial shock melted into a smile, and he quickly climbed down to greet him.

The reunion was easy, almost natural, despite the fifteen-year gap. After an enthusiastic handshake, Reid introduced Jack to his new girlfriend, Jackie. Over the course of a few minutes, Jack learned that Reid had taken a fresh start in life; after his divorce, he'd found Jackie, and now they had a three-year-old son with another baby on the way. The new house was a project to create more space for their growing family.

In no time, Reid handed Jack a pair of work gloves. He was glad for an extra pair of hands helping with the new roof.

From afar, Audrey could sense different this reunion was compared to the last one she had witnessed. In Fresno, Jack's time with Al had quickly turned into a two-day binge, an escape into old stories and too many rounds of whiskey. She had worried that meeting Reid might go the same way. But it didn't, and Reid himself was the reason why. Reid wasn't living in the shadow of old memories or drinking away the past—he'd built a new life on solid ground, a new chapter with no regrets, no guilt, no looking back. Reid's way forward was tangible, his days filled with family and work.

Hearing Jack talk about helping Reid with the construction, Audrey couldn't help but hope that Jack would see it too, maybe even see Reid as a role model. For Jack, working alongside someone who had successfully moved on to a regular civilian life, he might see that it was possible to leave everything behind.

But as she listened, her own worries pressed at her chest, clawing to be shared. She'd called with the intent to tell him, to unburden herself of the spiraling anxieties from the past few hours. And yet, the calm of his day, the stories about helping on the construction site, him being around Reid and Jackie, that all kept her from telling him. He wasn't alone. He couldn't speak freely, most likely, when it came to CIA inputs and clearance-level-8 threats. She had just called to speak to him about this, but now she couldn't.

Jack must have picked up on it. He paused mid-sentence, and she could feel his attention sharpen, his voice shifting as he cut through the unspoken layers between them.

"Is everything okay, Audrey?" he asked, his tone careful, as if sensing something beneath the surface.

The question caught her off-guard. She wanted to tell him so much what was bothering her: the threat, the tightened security, the feeling of being constantly watched, the new panic button lying beside her on the desk. She'd called because she'd wanted to feel the reassurance that his voice so often gave her, she needed to hear him say that these threats were common, that she had nothing to worry about. But she held back. The faint sounds of children in the background, their muted laughter, the occasional sound of Reid's tools reminded her he wasn't alone.

"Yeah," she replied after a beat, her voice softening, striving to mask the hesitation that lingered beneath her words. "I just… I'm glad you found Reid. Sounds like a peaceful place."

He didn't respond immediately, and she could feel him weighing her words, because after talking to her for so many hours, Jack could easily sense that there was something off. But she pushed it aside, unwilling to disrupt the simplicity he'd found there. They could talk later, she told herself, when he was somewhere he could talk freely. And so she just wished him a nice day and then called Agent Garrett, to arrange for her drive home.

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