Yes, I'm back. Well, actually, I was never away, I just wasn't posting anything, because I lacked the time (poor excuse, I know!). I recently joined a Facebook group of/for writers and have been sucked up in that, working on several projects all at once (writing my own and beta-reading other people's work), so I have been very busy, but it really isn't an excuse for not posting anything here.
So, today I make amends.
This here story, is one I just cooked up and it's kind of a request. I say 'kind of', because it's not really a request per say. We were discussing this in the Fiction Writer's Group (that's the one on FB) and I mentioned some of my readers (at Kieferland forum a few years ago) had told me I should be writing 'on' 24. One of the other members commented that he would want to write an episode for 24 as well, act in it and be killed by Jack. So, I offered to write a story for him to which he replied with "Kill me, Moody, kill me good."
And so it shall be.
Enjoy your demise, my friend!
Mission
X.
It was a
simple task. Find the person of interest and bring him in for questioning. If
that could not be achieved, terminate the subject.
He wasn’t
happy about the assignment at first, because he didn’t like the idea of
censorship, but after reading some of the man’s works, he agreed it was the
only course of action. This man had to be stopped. By any means necessary.
The first
part of the job was the boring one: determining the man’s location. It meant
countless hours of going over all the available information, checking video
material, pulling up surveillance footage and running face recognition on all
of it. It took hours, thankfully it didn’t take him hours, he had people to do
the boring work for him. He kicked
into action once their work was done.
Once they had a possible location, he would strap on his flak, get behind the
wheel and get out there to apprehend the subject. That was his job.
For now, he
waited, impatiently so. He hated sitting around doing nothing. Twice, he picked
up the phone to get an update. Twice, he was told they had nothing new and
couldn’t work any faster than they already were. He paced his office, eyeing
the phone on his desk, but he refrained from using it again. It took a lot of
energy to keep from yelling at his people to get a move on. Data simply didn’t
work as fast as he would’ve wanted it to.
When his
phone rang, his eyes went down into the bullpen, trying to determine who was
calling him even before he saw the caller’s name on the display.
“Yes,
Chloe?”
“I have a
possible location.”
“Talk to
me.”
She gave
him an address.
“Send it to
my PDA.”
“Already
did.”
The device
bleeped in his pocket.
“Good. Send
an assault team to that location but tell them to wait for my orders. I don’t
want them barging in and spooking the guy.”
“Got it.”
“Thank you,
Chloe.”
She blushed
but didn’t respond and hung up without another word, only to pick up the
receiver and dial another number.
He hung up,
turned to his locker and slipped his flak on, checked the weapon on his hip and
secured it and turned back to get his jacket.
“What do
you want, Chase?” he asked, as the young man was standing in the doorway.
He hadn’t
bothered knocking, which was a habit he wouldn’t mind knocking right out of
him.
“Chloe said
you had a location.”
“Possible
location.” he corrected.
“Can I
come?”
“Why would
you want to come, Chase?”
“I’m a
field agent, no?”
“Yes. So?”
“Shouldn’t
I be coming?”
“Do you
think you should?”
“Yes.”
“Then why
aren’t you geared up?”
Three weeks
on the job, but the kid was giddy as hell and he knew it would take a strong
hand to guide him.
“Flak,
weapon and spare ammo.” he stated, “Cell phone, PDA and handcuffs. I’m not
waiting for you.”
He slipped
his jacket on and walked out of his office, down the stairs and across the
bullpen to the security desk. A swipe of his badge logged him out and he
greeted the men on the way out of the building. He was halfway to his car when
Chase caught up.
“Did you
log out?”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
“They
called me back.” Chase admitted sheepishly.
“You’ll
learn.” he commented with a grin he couldn’t hide.
“Can I
drive?”
“No, I’m
not suicidal.”
He got in
behind the wheel and drove off seconds later. There was no way in hell he would
let the rookie drive the powerful –and fully loaded- SUV through downtown LA in
rush hour traffic. It was bad enough negotiating it when you were accustomed to
both the vehicle and the traffic, he wasn’t willing to die just yet.
Thanks to
the siren and flashing lights, they made good time, arriving on the scene mere
moments after the assault team. He issued his orders, having the team stand by
until further notice, and took Chase into the building. He checked in with a
reception clerk and was quickly directed to the conference room, hosting the
critique event. Armed only with a pixilated photo of their subject, they
entered the room and started scanning faces. He sent Chase off to one side,
while circling around the other side himself. Their subject was nowhere to be
seen, or at least no subject resembling the grainy photo on his PDA was to be
seen. He approached the host of the event, quietly separating him from the main
group of attendees.
“My name is
Jack Bauer, I’m with CTU.” he said, discreetly showing his badge, “Do you know
a writer by the name of Dave Perry?”
“Well, not
personally.” the host replied, “I think his name is on the list, though. Would
you like me to check?”
“We’ll
check it with you.”
“Of
course.”
The man’s
sudden agitation put Jack’s senses on alert and he followed closely behind him,
trying to locate Chase in the crowd. When they passed by a service door, the
man turned, shoved him hard enough to throw him off balance and blasted through
the door.
“Dammit!”
he cursed, struggling to find his footing.
The helpful
hands weren’t helpful at all and he shrugged them off as they held him back.
“Chase!” he
bellowed, dashing forward now that he was free of the crowd’s assistance.
He shot
through the door, banging his shoulder harder than he would’ve expected and
went down the stairs, taking them three at a time. He turned the first landing
before Chase even made it to the door.
“I don’t
know where he went,” he called, “check upstairs, I’m going down.”
“Got it,
Jack.”
Taking the
stairs faster than he knew was healthy, but determined not to let the man get
away from him, he tried to focus on footsteps other than his own. A door banged
and he used the railing to slow himself down. Judging from the sound, it had
come from below, but he wasn’t ready to put all his eggs in one basket, so he
continued alone instead of calling Chase to join him. He did call the assault
team, informing them someone might try to break out, probably from the
underground parking lot. They moved into position to intercept and he
acknowledged that as he pushed through the door and into the parking area.
Being on the radio and assuming his quarry was on the run, he didn’t see the
threat until it was too late. A bright red flash, then a skull-splitting impact
and he went down hard, darkness enveloping him.
The fire
extinguisher clanged to the ground and his assailant ran off now that his first
pursuer was out for the count. The blood on the agent’s face didn’t stop him,
even though he felt more like throwing up right now. Instead, he turned and
ran, trying to locate his car. He found it just as booted feet ran down the
ramp and into the parking lot, guns at the ready. He slipped inside and locked
up, staying low and out of sight. Hopefully. Through his rearview mirror, he
kept an eye on the men at the ramp and cursed softly when the group broke up,
leaving two men with automatic weapons to guard the ramp, while the rest of
them started searching the area. He would never get away from them. They would
gun him down before he got anywhere near the ramp.
“Agent
Bauer, come in.”
“Agent
Bauer, do you copy?”
They got no
reply.
“Agent
Edmunds, do you copy?”
“Edmunds
here.”
“Do you
know where agent Bauer is, sir?”
“He went
downstairs.”
“We’re in
the parking lot, but he’s not responding to our calls.”
“Find him.
I’m coming down.”
“Copy
that.”
“You two,
stay here and don’t let anyone out. You, with me. You two, take that side.”
Minutes
went by, but when Chase came through the door, he found Jack’s body,
unconscious and bleeding from a gaping wound across the forehead. The fire
extinguisher lying nearby told the rest of the tale. He summoned the assault
team and together, they managed to rouse Jack.
“What the
hell happened?”
“I don’t
know.” Jack grumbled, “The sonofabitch was waiting for me.”
“You took a
bad hit, Jack. Stay down.” Chase suggested when Jack started struggling.
“I’ve taken
worse.” Jack growled, shoving Chase’s hand away from him, “Did you find him?”
“We found you.”
“There’s no
APB out on me.” Jack replied grumpily, “Find him.”
“The exit
is covered, sir.” the team leader said, “We didn’t see anyone leave, so he’s
still here. Somewhere.”
“Get a few
more teams in here and find him.”
Jack ordered, raising a hand to his face.
It came
back sticky with blood.
“Dammit.”
“You need
an ambulance.” Chase said matter-of-factly.
“No
kidding, Sherlock.” Jack huffed, once more shoving Chase’s hand away, “Go find
the bastard.”
Shaking his
head in disbelief, he moved to a nearby car and sat on its bumper.
“I can’t
believe I asked him.”
He pulled
out his PDA and checked the picture on the device again. It didn’t look anything like the man he had spoken to.
What a fuck-up.
It only
took the extra teams –and the ambulance- a few minutes to get there and
–despite two paramedics hovering around him- Jack orchestrated the search of
the underground parking lot, setting the teams in motion before allowing anyone
a medical time-out, especially himself. One of the medics dabbed at the blood
on his face while the other checked his vitals.
“This will
need to get stitched up.”
“Patch it
up for now, I’ve got a job to do.” Jack grumbled angrily.
Those two
weren’t going to stop him from getting the job done.
Not today.
“You may
have a concussion, you need to go to hospital and get checked out.”
“I’ll go to
the clinic when we get back. Just stop the blood from running in my eye.”
“That’s
easy for you to say. Did you see that gash?”
“No.” Jack
admitted.
It had felt pretty nasty when he touched
it.
“What did
they hit you with anyway?”
Jack nodded
his head toward the fire extinguisher on the floor.
“Then I’ll
make the call myself. You have a concussion, you need to go to hospital.”
“I’ll go
when we’re done in here. Now stop the bleeding or I’ll do it for you.”
“Have it
your way.” the medic huffed, pressing down on the wound and making Jack hiss in
pain.
It took a
long moment, but then the bleeding finally went down to a minimum and they
quickly applied some surgical tape to keep the wound closed and put a bandage
over it.
“That won’t
last long. You need to go to hospital.”
“I heard
you the first time.” Jack grumbled, pushing up and past the medics, “Chase,
give me a sit rap.” he snapped into the microphone.
“I think we
found his car.” Chase’s voice came back.
“Where?”
“Lot C 154.
Straight ahead and to your right.”
“Copy that.”
He left the
paramedics behind and went off to find lot C, the congregation of agents telling
him where to go.
“Dave Perry,
show us your hands.” he called, approaching the vehicle from the side.
There was no
response, but he could see the figure huddling inside.
“I’m not
going to ask again,” he warned, “show us your hands and exit the vehicle. Slowly.”
Instead,
the engine turned over and the car shot away from its parking space, going
backward with the intent of plowing through the group of agents. These men were
well trained though and opened fire even before stepping out of the way. The bullets
bit into the metal frame and punctured the tires, causing the car to come to a screeching
stop mere feet from where it had been parked.
“Show me
your hands!” Jack bellowed, moving in on the vehicle with his weapon drawn, “Last
warning!” he added menacingly.
His eyes
met his quarry’s and in that instant, he knew this was one subject he couldn’t
apprehend.
His finger
curled around the trigger, tightening in a slow but controlled way, squeezing
off a first shot as the man in the car threw it into drive. If he gunned the
engine, Jack would end up on the bonnet. Or worse. His bullet bit into the
windshield and smashed through, changing its angle only slightly, ending its
course in the backseat cushion, blood and brain matter spraying in its wake. A second
bullet followed a slightly altered path, adding another hole to the windshield
as well as to the man’s head and the front and back seats. The lifeless body
slumped in the seat and the assault team moved in, killing the engine for everyone’s
safety first.
“Chase, you
wrap this one up.”
“Sure
thing, Jack. Where are you going?”
“To
hospital.”
He needed to
get that wound stitched up and he needed to lie down.
Fast.
He still couldn’t
believe how messed up this ‘simple’ mission had been.
And all of that
because of some damned anarchist writer.
