whathastobedone | For Jack Bauer -- a MM thread

For Jack Bauer -- a MM thread

She can feel it slipping through her fingers. Everything. All of it. Vladimir has called every contact he could possibly think of, and none of them know anything about the nuclear rods.

"Well, somebody that you've already talked to has to know something!"

"Renee, it's done."

No. No, it's not done. It can't be done. Jack's sitting downstairs waiting for this information; all of CTU is counting on her to find these rods, and if it's done that means the mission is over. Jack will pull her out, and she'll go back to...

What?

"We made five million."

"Why settle for five when we could have fifty?"

He laughs, and just looking at him makes her sick to her stomach, but then he's touching her and it's all she can do to keep her cool -- keep her cover. She smiles at him, hands on his waist like the thought of his body against hers doesn't repulse her, and tries to think.

"Five million is plenty. Plus, we have each other. That's not so bad, is it?"

"No, it's not bad," she smiles. "But it could be better!"

And then she moves, trying not to run but keeping her steps quick as she goes for his phone.

"Call them again. Do it for me."

Please.

Please.

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She isn't eavesdropping. Not really. She has enough going through her mind as it is, and she's concentrating as best she can on the files she's pulling up, looking for anything that might be helpful.

But she can't help but overhear. Her ears are practically burning.

She tips her head in the direction of the bathroom, listening to the anger and disgust in Jack's voice, imagining the kind of things Hastings is saying on the other line. She doesn't turn back to the computer screen until he's disconnected, and come back out into the room.

"You didn't have to do that, Jack," she murmurs.

"Do what?" he asks, walking over to the desk and crouching next to her so he can read what's on the screen without looming over her.

She looks at her hands, blood in the crevasses of her knuckles.

"Cover for me. With Hastings."

"Hey," he says, turning toward her. "We talked about this. It was self-defense."

"Yeah. I know. That's what we agreed."

Her eyes slip back to the body on the floor, and there's a "but" hanging in her red-rimmed eyes.

"No, that's what happened," he says, firmly. "You have to believe that, Renee; for CTU and for yourself."

She pulls her eyes away from Laitanan and looks at Jack, frowning. She's searching for that confidence he wants her to have. She just can't find it.

"Right."

She nods once and sharp, but when she turns her head she looks as unsure as she feels.

"Renee, look at me," he says, placing a hand on her shoulder. "He attacked you. You stabbed him in self-defense. Just because you didn't stop at one blow doesn't mean it wasn't. You were scared, you were emotionally overwrought, and you can't turn off that kind of adrenaline like a switch. You tell me; what were you thinking at that moment? Can you remember?"

"I--"

She shakes her head, combing through her memories (and going back to a place she doesn't want to be), jaw unhinged as she tries to make it all make sense.

"--I don't know, I lost control."

She rewinds from the time she thrust the blade into Jack's stomach, from the fifteenth, from the fourteenth hole, back, back until she remembers hitting the ground.

"He was stronger than me. He was still stronger than me. And all I could think was ... was that I wasn't going to let him ... put me in the hospital again. And then, when he -- he started screaming, I thought ... I thought there was no way to stop him. No way to stop it from happening."

Her fingertips are trembling, tears in the corners of her eyes.

"You lost control because you were scared for your own safety, Renee; you just said it yourself," he says, running his hand up and down her spine slowly. "You thought that he was stronger and that he'd put you in the hospital; that's the definition of self-defense. Telling CTU that isn't going to be a lie or twisting the facts."

Edited 2010-02-24 01:38 (UTC)

She purses her lips together and nods shakily, squeezing her eyes shut.

"I should have known better," she mutters. "I should have stopped after he was down, but I ... I couldn't."

That's what scares her the most.

"I couldn't stop."

"I know, but that doesn't mean it wasn't self-defense."

He's about to add something else when he hears the sound of a car door slam outside. Either Cole had overestimated the time it would take to get to them, or he'd had luck with traffic.

"Dammit, they must really have been moving; CTU's here already. Listen, Renee. Everything you've told me says that it was self-defense. Like I said, you need to believe that for you, not just for CTU. We'll talk later, okay?"

He doesn't wait for her answer before turning and walking out of the office, planning to intercept Cole and his agents before they get to the office.

The sound of voices from the men outside stops him in his tracks, though, and sends him diving for cover. Turning on his heel, he runs back to the office, grabbing Lugo's ankles and dragging him inside.

"They're Russian. Vladimir must have contacted whoever's got the nuclear rods, only they didn't want him to know."

She doesn't really register he's asked her a question until she misses the presence of his hand on her spine. She turns her head to answer, a quiet "okay", but he's already moving. She watches him go, watches the space in the door after he's disappeared downstairs, and tries to understand the knot of nerves left in her stomach in the wake of his warmth.

She brushes the unshed tears from her eyes and returns her focus to the laptop, deciding she might as well be doing something productive while she waits for the anvil to drop. She hasn't gotten very far by the time Jack comes rushing back in.

"--What?" she exclaims, moving away from the laptop. She glances at the window on instinct, but there's nothing to see through the partially drawn blinds. "What are you doing?"

Jack closes the office door, glancing around--need another exit--and heads for the bathroom. The wheels in his head are turning, trying to come up with a plan, though he knows there's really only one option, and the thought of it makes him feel slightly sick to his stomach.

"Here, take this," he says, pulling his comm unit out of his ear and handing it off to Renee as he passes her. Inside the bathroom, he spots a textured, translucent window, hurrying toward it and searching for a latch.

"I need to let them take me," he says, fingers groping over the edges of the window.

They have no idea who these guys are, where they're based. Their only hope is for him to keep his cover going, and let CTU track him to their headquarters. It's how long CTU will take to get there, and what's going to happen in the interim that has his stomach tightening.

But first, he needs to get Renee out of there.

When he hands her his earpiece, she knows what he's planning even before he says it. It's the most logical course when dealing with an unknown hostile; there are too many variables, too many things that could go wrong with an escape plan (there's only one way out) or fighting back (how many are there? Where are they?). So your best bet is to keep your cover in place, and hope someone finds you before the enemy decides they have no use for you.

However, even knowing all this, it doesn't stop the icy chill that clamps around her backbone, and the lurching feeling in her stomach when he finally says the words out loud.

"No! We need to get out of here!"

After everything that's happened, how could he expect her to let him make that kind of a sacrifice? He's all she has, and she'll be damned if she loses him, too.

The window isn't budging; no way out. His plan really is their only option; maybe if he can distract them...

"We don't know who these guys are, CTU won't get here in time, and you and I are outnumbered," he says, turning toward Renee. "If you want everything you've done to be for something, I've got to let them take me. CTU can track me from the air."

She shakes her head once and sharp, even though the federal agent still lingering within her agrees with everything he's saying.

"They will kill you."

For the first time since Laitanan went down, her eyes are sharp and focused.

Please don't do this.

"It's worse, they're going to have to vet me."

If he can't find a way out, he's going to have to find a place for Renee to hide. Turning around, he spots a door partially hidden by the open bathroom door, and heads toward it.

"They'll need to find out what I know and how. Cole and his men aren't far away; they'll only be a few minutes behind us."

It's those few minutes that worry him, though. He's not lying to Renee when he says they're not going to kill him--not immediately. But when he won't answer their questions, they're going to resort to force to get them.

Renee looks rightfully upset.

"You and I both know what that means," she hisses, keeping her voice low, but as firm as possible. "Jack, if these are friends of Vladimir's, they won't show you any mercy, trust me."

Her voice drops to a whisper on those last two words, as she shuffles closer to the closet and Jack's side.

He yanks the door open; inside there's a water heater and not much else. Enough room for Renee to hide with the door closed, and that's all he cares about at the moment.

"I know that," he says, "Neither did the Chinese. But this is our only option, and it'll buy CTU some time. Quick, in here."

He pushes her inside, pulling the holster and pistol out of his waistband, quickly checking the gun before pressing it into her hands. "This door opens again, you start shooting."

Her stomach twists when he mentions the Chinese. She moves into the closet without a fuss, accepts the gun like a woman with training (not the scared girl she feels like on the inside), and tries not to think about his file, or what the Russians might do to him if CTU doesn't intercept them.

"Jack!"

She stops him from shutting the door, knowing they don't have a lot of time but she can't let him walk away without ... without what? She reaches for his shoulder, and searches for the right words, but everything comes out sounding cliched.

"Be careful," she eventually whispers, touching his jaw briefly before drawing her hand back to the gun. She nods with more conviction than she honestly feels, letting him know that she's ready.

He stops, something about the way she looks at him, something about her obvious concern squeezing at his heart.

"I will. Promise," he says with a short nod, before turning and closing the door. He turns to the sink, trying to focus, trying not to think about whether Renee will be safe or what they're likely to do to get him to talk.

He can hear the office door open, hear voices exclaiming in Russian. No time left; he can't let them just find him.

"Don't shoot!" he calls out, the nervousness in his voice not entirely faked. "Please I'm unarmed. Don't shoot, I'm coming out."

Opening the door, Jack holds out both his hands to show he's not holding a weapon he comes out, flinching slightly and dropping to his knees as one of the men asks him what happened. The lie comes easily; Vladimir tried to screw him, Jack killed them in the fight, offering to do business with them instead.

"Who else is here?" the leader of the team asks.

"No one," Jack says, fighting the instinct to glance back at the bathroom as Renee pops into his mind. "All I want to do is business. You kill me, you'll cost your boss a lot of money."

For a moment, no one moves. Jack's heartbeat is deafening in his ears, every muscle tensed as he waits to see if the ruse worked.

Finally, the leader lowers his weapon, ordering his men in Russian to take Jack with them. No other commands are given, but as two of the men grab Jack's arms, he sees another walk past him, toward the bathroom. As they pull him out of the office, he risks one glance toward the bathroom, praying the guy doesn't spot the closet, before they're out of the room and he can only listen for the sound of a gunshot.

Renee's eyes are wide and unfocused as she strains to hear every word in the adjacent office. Not that it's difficult, with the men shouting as they are. It's hard to stay put when Jack sounds so panicked, the cocking of a gun sounding like cannon fire in her ears. She squeezes her eyes shut and holds her breath.

But there's no discharge.

She hears them shuffling out of the office, and she lets out that breath, heart hammering in her ears. She can only assume that Jack is all right, and pray to god CTU shows up fast.

She glances through the wooden slats in the door in time to see a hostile enter the room. He's armed, doing a thorough sweep. She tries to make herself as invisible as possible, but it's no good. She sees the look in his eyes as he turns around and spies the closet door. God dammit. She knows if she starts shooting, Jack is done for. But, as the hostile creeps closer, she knows she doesn't have any other choice.

She grimaces, feathers the trigger, and waits for it...

"Mikhail!"

The voice from outside the room surprises them both. He shouts in Russian -- We leave! -- and the man in the bathroom with Renee quickly exits.

She lets out another breath, muscles trembling with relief, and closes her eyes. A tear slides down her cheek as she dares to relax that trigger finger.

Now all that's left is to wait.

Jack, please be okay...

They've reached the garage when he hears one of the men holler from the office. He tenses, expecting to hear gunfire, already planning how to take down the men around him and and how long it would take to reach Renee.

But then he hears another shout, a command to leave, and he relaxes a little. They're going. Renee is safe, and that's all that matters.

At least until they pull him into the covered workshop outside, and he spots an open grating in the floor. One of the men climbs down, then the leader prods Jack in the back with his pistol. "You go next. You try anything, you die."

His hands feel cold as he climbs down the ladder embedded in the concrete and into the storm sewers. He has no doubt that the Russians planned this well enough to make sure their exit point is well away from Laitanan's garage, so there's little to no chance that CTU's going to pick them up wiht one of their drones or sattelite.

Those few minutes he'd mentioned to Renee have just gone indefinite, and rescue is now so uncertain an option as to worthless.

He's going to have to get himself out of this one.

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