Fic: Eternal Father, Strong to Save (Chapter 5)
Eternal Father, Strong to Save (Chapter 5)
Author: thecrystalkey
Summary: Jack Bauer has been framed for the murder of a navy petty officer. Local NCIS calls in the best of the best, Jethro Gibbs.
Spoilers: Season 5 of 24, Season 2 of NCIS
Disclaimer: See Chapter List.
Jack checked his watch for the second time in ten minutes, wondering what was taking so long. It had been over twenty minutes since he’d hung up with Chloe at NCIS and while there was a lot to explain, Chloe was used to being succinct without leaving anything important out. Twenty minutes was more than enough time.
It had been such a relief to hear her voice that the emotion had managed to briefly overwhelm his knee-jerk concern that she was calling him on behalf of the people trying to arrest him. Her quick explanation had pre-empted that concern while he was still trying to reassure himself that she was really all right. He had never truly believed that she’d have called him without having done her best to secure the line first. He would sooner doubt himself than doubt Chloe.
What Chloe had told him of Gibbs’ record, that he always got his suspect regardless of rank or pressure from above, had given Jack the impression that the man would never let an opportunity pass to find a suspect. Much less a phone call that he could control. It should have been a setup, despite Chloe’s apparent co-operation, but the whole deal had made more sense when she’d included Bill Buchanan on the list of people in the room.
Bill seemed to have a soft spot for Chloe, repeatedly turning a blind eye to her less sanctioned activites, including some outright illegal ones. Of course, since those activities were generally on behalf of Jack himself, he supposed it could be said that Bill had that soft spot for him. Somehow, Jack didn’t think so. From what he knew of the CTU Director, it was more likely Chloe’s belief that she had done the right thing (generally followed by proof that she had when it turned out that Jack had been right in whatever lead he was following) that had kept her out of a CTU holding cell while the agency was under Buchanan’s management.
With Bill involved, there was a good chance he’d talk them into releasing Chloe, at least into CTU custody. Jack hoped to hell he did, anyway, because he was alone out here. He had no partner since Chloe had been taken into NCIS custody, there was no backup waiting or on its way. He’d been fine getting through their outer perimeter, leaving no trace of his infiltration to raise a flag, but as soon as he’d gotten into a position with a decent view of the main building, he’d realized he was in deep trouble.
He had known he was on his own since before he’d even gotten here, Chloe had called him while he was in transit to say that NCIS were about to knock on her door. It was just his luck that Chloe had dropped out of contact just when he needed her skills the most. The only thing likely to get him through the maze of sentries and seemingly random patrols around the main building undetected was somebody directing him via infrared satellite. Somebody he trusted, by preference. A short list, at the top of which was Chloe’s name.
Not one to just give up, Jack had waited close to two hours, moving to different points all around the compound, trying to find an exploitable weakness in their defenses. He had actually been close to calling Bill and requesting CTU’s assistance, playing on the common knowledge within CTU that he only ever entered the field these days by presidential request.
Given what Jack knew about Mike’s work, these were probably terrorists, but probably wasn’t exactly justification for a full scale raid or even a single team rescue operation. Bill would likely have wanted him to pull out and leave things for CTU to deal with. Jack usually trusted Buchanan, but he didn’t trust the CTU Director’s priorities in this case. As far as Jack was concerned, they needed more intel on what was going on here before moving in. What kind of operation needed this many men to run? Who were these people and what were they after? Those questions needed answers before he could even justify rescuing Mike.
Calling Bill would have been a last resort in any case. It would take too long for a Tac Team to get here for Jack’s peace for mind. This place was in the middle of nowhere and these kidnappers would only need Mike alive for so long.
Jack knew how Bill would react because he would have reacted the same way when he had been the Agent-in-Charge at CTU. He should still react the same way but he was tired of losing friends and was determined to do everything in his power to get Mike to safety before taking the people who had him down.
With Chloe there Jack had a better chance of convincing the CTU Director to follow his lead; and with Bill there, Jack had a better chance of convincing Gibbs to let Chloe go. If he could at least get them to hand custody of her to Buchanan, then she’d be back in play almost immediately. They would both get chewed out later, but that would be later and Jack would do his best to shield Chloe from that.
Not that Bill seemed inclined to blame her for this. I wanted to see how you’d managed to get her arrested this time. Emphasis on those last two words because this was the fifth time and counting. Buchanan couldn’t possibly know how deep a nerve that comment had struck. In his darkest moments Jack wondered why Chloe hadn’t abandoned him yet. All the other women in his life that hadn’t ended up dead had done so.
The most hurtful being the last two; his daughter, Kim, and his ex-lover, Audrey Raines. Kim, at least, didn’t pretend; she wanted nothing to do with him directly, though she did manage to call Chloe once every two weeks like clockwork to ask about him. And to give an update on her life since, she’d said, Chloe would probably be keeping an eye on her anyway.
Audrey had done worse, lying to him about how she wanted to try again before leaving for DC. Jack had stayed in LA at the President Gardner’s request, doing mop-up from Logan’s failed plans. He’d had to find out from Audrey’s father that while she’d been telling him over the phone that she loved and missed him, she had already moved on to some political hotshot.
Jack’s train of thought was, thankfully, interrupted by the vibration of his phone as it rang silently in his pocket. He hit the answer button on his headset, continuing to keep track of the movement below him through his sniper scope. The rifle it belonged to was still in pieces in his bag but the scope had night-vision and was useful on its own.
“Yeah,” he answered quietly.
“Jack,” Bill Buchanan’s voice came over the line. “Chloe told us as much as she knows. Agent Gibbs has agreed to hold off on any further action against you until such time as you and Mike Seldler are out of danger.”
Jack sighed. More than he’d expected, less than he’d hoped for. “I need more than that, Bill. I can’t get any closer to the compound, much less get to Mike, on my own. I need Chloe back on if you want that to happen.”
“Do you really think that now is the time to be demanding the release of your accomplice, Mr. Bauer?” Gibbs asked.
Jack closed his eyes in a short, non-specific prayer for patience and managed to hold the swear words he wanted to say behind his lips. “I’m alone out here and I’m not going to be able to get to Mike without help. Infrared satellite coverage, to be specific. I need Chloe to do that.”
“There are other people -“ Gibbs started.
Jack didn’t let him finish. “Not that I’d trust with this. Bill, will you explain this to him?”
“I thought I already had, Jack. Give me a minute.”
Jack heard Buchanan and Gibbs’ voices in a low conversation, out of range for the words to be audible.
“Chloe, are you still there?” he asked while Bill and Gibbs were conferring.
“Go ahead, Jack.”
Jack smiled on hearing her voice. They hadn’t sent her back down to holding, after all. Good. “You heard?”
“Yeah, Jack. I’d already be on it but they won’t let me on the computer since I messed with their phone system. How big an area are you going to need coverage of?”
“Just the compound. I’m only going in to locate Mike and see what I can find out about this group. They’re extremely well organized and have a lot of manpower. We need intel before anything else.”
“Do you want the feed downloaded to your PDA?”
“Not unless I have to. I want to have both hands free, just in case.”
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Chapter 6