• 1-Identity Restricted
• 2-Aves First Strike
• 3-Track that Van
• 4-Interrogation Techniques
• 5-Demands

Chapter Four

13:00:00pm

“Get her pants off Dave, come on!” The man growled, turning away from Laura and glaring at the other man. The other watched his friend nervously for a second before nodding, moving forward and rolling Laura onto her back, only to find nothing. Looking at the trousers for a second, he tugged on them to no effect.

“On the back!” The first man ordered quickly, careful to keep the blade close to Laura’s cheek, if only to scare her. The second nodded and rolled Laura onto her front, pushing her jacket up and seeing the small zip running down the back of her low cut trousers. He pulled on it sharply and tugged the trousers away, discarding them to the floor.

“Right, I’ll ask you again. Do you have Level Three clearance?” Laura gritted her teeth as the knife pressed in more insistently. “ANSWER ME!” He yelled in her ear. Turning her head towards him, she tilted her head up before laying it back on the covers.

“Fine, get rid of the underwear, Dave!” Laura struggled madly against the man named Dave as he pulled down her underwear, chucking them to the floor and moving onto the bed, grabbing her thighs and pressing down to keep her still.

“GET OFF ME!” Laura screamed.

“We will, as soon as you tell us what we want.”

13:06:24pm

Walking down onto the floor, Jack was immediately accosted by three members of CTU, all asking him completely benign questions about reports to Division about the day before Adam approached.

“Jack, we’ve got the van for ten minutes after it left the parking lot, however, from there it gets much more difficult. It went into a more residential area, one that isn’t covered very well at all by cameras.” He explained nervously.

“Ok, I want you to look for all major exits from the area first, if they get no luck then start searching smaller roads, go from there, if we find nothing, we’ll know there was a stop in the residential area.” Jack replied. “Kim should be back soon enough, when she gets here, get her on it with you.”

“Ok, Jack.” Adam returned to his station as Jack wandered over to Chloe.

“Chloe,” Chloe jumped slightly and looked up.

“Yes, Jack?”

“Was just wondering how you’re doing on tracking the van.”

“Well, there was no camera coverage of the exact address, but luckily the van appeared at the entrance to an industrial area which is right next to the area we’re looking at. I’m following it now, I’ve got to about five minutes after it left the residential area.”

“Ok, keep it up Chloe.”
Turning around, he looked to Jacob, next to Chloe, and leaned over his desk.

“What are you doing Jacob?” Jack asked.

“Just offloading some bandwidth to the main frame to clear up my computer.”

“Ok, when you’ve done that, I want you to get on directly to the President’s chief of staff, see if you can get a record of all threats made in the last month.” Jacob nodded as Jack returned to his office, closing the door and tapping his fingers against the keyboard.

“Fuck it.” He swore audibly. He’d put this off too long already. Picking up the phone, he dialled a number he hadn’t used in a long time.

“Almeida.” Tony’s voice rang down the phone as Jack took a deep breath.

“Tony, it’s Jack.”

“Jack, how are you?” Tony’s voice sounded surprised, Jack had been expecting he would be. After an original call to see how Tony was after he was released from Prison, they hadn’t spoken.

“I’m alright, Tony, look I need a favour.”

“What is it Jack?”

“I need help at CTU.” Jack replied quietly.

“Forget it, Jack. There’s no way Division will let me within a mile of that place.” Tony spat venomously.

“They’ve already allowed it.” Jack replied. “I called earlier to get a previous guarantee I could call you if I need. And I do.”

“I don’t know, Jack.” Tony sighed.

“Come on Tony, I know you miss it here. Just come in! I’ll see you in half an hour.” And without waiting for any response, or protests, Jack hung up, smiling to himself.

13:13:08pm

Chase slipped his arm around Kim’s waist, walking her slowly up to the CTU entrance. He didn’t want to give her up just yet, but they were already fifteen minutes later than he’d said. He couldn’t help that he needed to spend twenty minutes at the house hugging and kissing Kim, telling her how much he loved her and not to scare him like that again. He’d driven like a mad man on the way back because he knew Jack would roast his ass for being so late, they were needed on a day like this. Security opened the door, checked through Chase’s security tags and looked expectantly at Kim.

“Your tags Miss?”

“She doesn’t have them.” Chase replied angrily. “She’s just been kidnapped.” The security office looked sceptically at Chase, then, looking at Kim, he nodded. It was only protocol anyway, he knew practically every CTU agent by sight anyway, and Kim Bauer was an easy member to recognise.

“Go on through. But I’d tell Mr Bauer so they can flag Miss Bauer’s cards.”

“Thank you, we will.” Kim smiled and walked past, accompanied by Chase as they entered the main CTU building. They were barely three steps through the door when Jack came up, taking Kim into a tight embrace.

“Kim, thank god!” He whispered into her ear, his hand brushing down her hair as he held her tightly.

“Dad,” She whispered but when he didn’t move, she gripped his arms and pulled herself back. “Dad, do we have any news?”

“We’re following up leads, but we’re having difficulty following the van due to the lack of cameras in the residential areas.”

“I’ll go and help Chloe.” Kim nodded, and walked purposefully over to Chloe, leaning over discussing things quietly. Jack watched her for a moment, his little girl, all grown up, and handling herself perfectly as a CTU agent. Smiling slightly, he turned back to Chase, his face now hard and emotionless.

“What took you so long?” He asked, his eyes boring into Chase’s.

“We hit traffic, sorry.”

“Don’t bullshit me Chase, I do it much better.”

“It’s not bullshit Jack!”

“Look Chase, we needed you back here. I don’t need you playing around on our time.”

“It wasn’t like that Jack!” Chase argued, pulling Jack back by the arm as he attempted to talk away.

“Let go of me Chase.” Chase however, kept a firm hold.

“I just thought I lost the woman I’m in love with Jack, you were allowed a moment with her, I’m allowed one too. I just chose not to do it here!” Chase snapped.

“Chase, let go of me.” Jack said slowly, punctuating every word with a cold death stare. Chase sighed and dropped Jack’s arm. Jack stepped towards him. “Next time you tell me you’ll be here in fifteen minutes, you be here in fifteen minutes. Understand?”

“Sure, Jack.”

“You know better than anyone that I am thanking God that Kim is alright, but Laura and President Logan are still out there and we need to find them.” Jack explained. Chase regarded Jack for a moment.

“Do you know Henley, Jack?” Chase asked, and even before Jack had a time to answer, Chase knew it. He could see the flinch in Jack’s eyes as she was brought up.

“No.”

“Jack, you’re lying.”

“No I am not, Chase. I don’t know her.” Jack replied, maybe a little too angrily. Chase nodded to the conference room, Jack followed obediently.

“How do you know her, Jack?” Chase asked calmly.

“What are you talking about Chase?”

“I can tell. You called her by her first name when I know for a fact that Kim and I have been referring to her by last name only. You flinch when I mention her, and you seem a little too angry about this right now.” Chase explained. Jack wandered silently to the other side of the table, leaning on the back of it before looking up.

“Laura Henley is the ex girlfriend of Jason Keane. She helped me out when we were trying to stop him.”

“Your turn to bullshit Jack.”

“I’m not bullshitting you.” He replied softly.

“Then it’s not everything. You wouldn’t get all bent out of shape over a girl who helped you once.” Again, Jack was silent for over a minute, he stared out into the office floor, at Kim, calmly helping Chloe with her work. When he spoke, he refused to look at Chase, he just watched Kim.

“While Laura was helping me, I was put as her detail for a while, to protect her just in case Keane came looking. We… we were alone for a long time.” Jack tailed off; he wasn’t sure how much he wanted Chase to know, he knew too much already.

“You slept with her, didn’t you Jack?” Chase asked, a smirk passing over his lips.

“Yes.”

“So you slept with the girl once, she’s not your responsibility. She’s a security detail for the President, she must be able to handle herself.”

“She’s not a security detail. She’s a secretary with more than enough weapons training, mainly because of me.” Jack explained. Chase watched him carefully.

“What do you mean Jack?” Jack rubbed a hand over his face, looking over at Chase, he smiled slightly and shook his head, Chase was more the age Laura should have been with, not him.

“It wasn’t just once. Laura came to me after the mission, she asked me to help her.”

“Are you in a relationship with her?” Chase asked, again, not able to completely hide a smirk from his lips.

“I gave her the weapons training; we’d go to training digs on my days off when you and Kim were spending time with Angela. I helped her through all the exams and physicals. Then I called in a favour. She has a degree in English, a friend gave her a job at the President’s office in Los Angeles.”

“That wasn’t my question, Jack.”

“I suppose we are in a relationship of sorts, nothing serious, we just spend time together when we’re not working.”

“She’s Kim’s age Jack.” Chase warned.

“You don’t think I know that?”

“I’m not sure you’re letting it factor into this.” Jack ran his hands through his hair, his palms rubbing forcefully over his scalp.

“It’s too late now. We just have to deal with this situation.” Chase nodded.

“I’d be careful about telling Kim.” He laughed. “She might not like it.”

“She’ll react worse than I did to you.” Jack laughed lightly in return, though the serious tone was still there.

“Yes, she will, and with good reason. I wouldn’t bring it up today.”

“I had no intention of it.” Suddenly, the door opened, Kim standing in it looking at them oddly.

“Everything alright in here?” She asked brightly.

“Fine.” Chase replied. “Just going over the information the tactical teams got at the mall.”

“Oh, ok, well, Dad, Chloe needs you. Seems she’s got a lead on the van.”

“I’ll be right there.” It was only when Kim had turned to walk back to her station that Jack turned to Chase.

“Thanks.”

13:30:58pm

Laura Henley sobbed against the covers she lay on, they had left her alone for a minute while one of the men took a phone call, after half an hour of interrogation. The long cuts across her cheeks and chest made by the blade stinging as her body attempted to heal them. Her throat sore from screaming and her face red and raw from the blows she had been given for making so much noise. With a quiet click, the door opened and one of the men strode in. Recoiling slightly, she lay in wait, waiting for the next bombarding of questions, and the next cuts.

“You ready to talk yet?” The man asked. She was about to tell him to fuck off and die when she realised it was the second man, the one referred to as Dave. The one who, before now, hadn’t been interrogating her.

“I’m not telling you anything.” She muttered, coiling in even further. Making her jump, he sat down on the bed next to her and touched her arm, his hands cool and slightly refreshing to her burning skin.

“I’ve got water. Lift your head, I’ll give you some.” He whispered. She lifted her head as he pressed the glass to her lips, tipping it up slightly until the cool liquid flowed into her mouth, her lack of co-ordination at the time letting some drip out from the glass and down her chin. He took the glass away, wiping the drips from her skin softly, Laura gritting her teeth as he did so.

“You’ve got to start talking soon. He won’t keep you alive much longer.” He whispered again, almost urgently. Laura barked a laugh.

“You can stop your whole good terrorist bad terrorist routine. I’m not telling you a god damn thing!” Though Laura couldn’t see it, the man named Dave was smiling.

“Was hoping you’d say that.” He laughed, leaning over her until his breath flowed hot and damp over her ear. “And it’s not so much a good bad thing here, it’s more a pain verses humiliation thing.” Laura didn’t have time to decipher what he meant before he had stood up, but as soon as she heard the zipper, she knew. Coiling in again, she began screaming, the pain in her throat not registering, as all she could do was scream and scream, preying someone would hear her.

The next time she felt movement was Dave leaning over end of the bed, grabbing her ankles and pulling them down towards him, pulling her until she was splayed on the bed, face down, the taste of blood and tears mixed onto the bed sheets. Dave remained hold of her ankles as he climbed onto the bed, pulling them apart until he could kneel between her legs. When he let them go, her legs tried to clamp together, tried to pull up to a foetal position, but moments later, they were grabbed again, these hands bigger and stronger than Dave’s, more insistent. Laura continued screaming, not only was he about to assault her, but the other man was watching, probably laughing, she couldn’t hear over her own screams pounding through her head.

Dave lay on top of her, not caring about how his weight was pushing her down into the bed, her mouth nearly covered with sheets until she could hardly breath. He reached under her chest, grabbing at her breasts causing a fresh scream as his fingers pressed across the cuts the other man had made, though the pain was nothing to the rip as he thrust into her in one sharp, rough movement. Laura bit down on the sheets, her hands in balls as she tried to bare the pain, too scared to scream anymore and too spent to struggle in a hopeless attempt, she lay, letting him pound into her, each thrust only leading to another, and another, and another. Tears streamed down her cheeks, the blindfold soaked through completely.

Thrusting into her, Dave groaned, her fear only making him clench up around him, making him go faster and harder. He could feel the blood running from her, over him as he grabbed her breasts again, the scarlet blood on her chest seeping through his fingers. With a final thrust he came into her, yelling his ejaculation. Pulling out, he laughed coldly, getting off the bed and watching her coil up into a foetal position instantly, shaking from head to foot. He grabbed the towel he had brought in and wiped himself off, the blood staining the white cotton before he zipped up his pants and moved back over to the bed as the other man unzipped his pants. Leaning over and grabbing her ankles again, he pulled her back straight.

“Not yet Honey, he may be into causing pain, but he likes a bit of humiliation just as much as I do.”

13:46:35pm

“THAT’S IT!” Kim yelled suddenly. They had been going through photos of buildings on BA roads for almost twenty minutes when she suddenly saw it. The new red brick building with the slightly dilapidated white paint building next to it. “That’s definitely the buildings. It’s exactly the same.” Kim explained as they looked at satellite photos.

“Chloe, where is that one?” Jack asked.

“Baker street, ten to twelve minutes from the mall. It matches.” Chloe explained.

“Ok, Chloe, I want infrared on that entire area. I want to know what’s going on there.” Jack replied.

“Ok, one second. I’ll just have to bring up the software.”

“You’re absolutely certain?”

“Yes, that is it, I know it.” Kim replied, smiling to her dad. He smiled back, the first concrete lead they had after Aves and Pain, and so far, they couldn’t find them. The tactical team sent to Pain’s house were still ten minutes away, and wouldn’t be going in for at least fifteen. So far, they had nothing on Aves apart from his previous jobs, and that was five years old.

“Jack?” Jack turned around, Tony was standing in front of him, black shirt and grey trousers, jacket slung carelessly over his shoulder.

“Tony, thank you so much for coming in.” Jack replied, walking over to his friend and shaking his hand enthusiastically.

“Really don’t see why you need my help, Jack, you look pretty well staffed.” Tony laughed, looking around. Sure enough, every station was filled, everyone working like machines.

“Jack, we have that infrared.” Chloe called.

“Great.” Jack replied, still looking at Tony. “Let me just look at this, then I’ll explain everything.”

13:51:22pm

The second man was done a lot faster than Dave, something Laura was silently thankful for, but he had been a lot worse, he’d decided rape wasn’t enough on its own to get her to talk, he decided the knife would still be useful as he dragged it up her thighs and across her back while he “did the deed”. Even after he had emptied himself into her as well, he remained inside of her, continuing to drag the blade around her back as he composed himself, her shirt and jacket hunched up over her breasts and tight across her upper back. While he calmed down, the blades marks were not enough to draw blood; just enough to leave red sore marks where he’d moved it. When he finally climbed off her, she didn’t have any energy left. She just moved her legs together and lay still, waiting with dread for the next set of pain or humiliation. She closed her eyes under the blindfold, willing herself to pass out or die; she didn’t know which. She listened passively as they left the room again, footsteps growing fainter letting her know they weren’t just outside the door, but had left her alone for a while.

Gathering as much energy as she could, she pulled on the chains, moving her hand up it to see how far it went. It was pretty long, maybe the length of her forearm. Biting her swollen lip lightly, she lifted herself slightly from the bed, moving to her left before rolling onto her back to the right. Again, she moved herself to the left of the bed and rolled over. Doing it one more time, she felt the chain tightening significantly, enough to give her time to think of something if they decided to move her. She could make it difficult for them to lift her and turn her over forcefully if needs be, which would mean they’d unlock one of her hands to untwist the chain. It’d be enough.

She lay still as she heard them approaching, talking in lowered voices she could just hear.

“It’s coming on two, we’ll have to move her.” Dave commented as they re-entered the room.

“Yeah, they’ll be expecting us soon. Get her pants on her.” The other replied, as she heard a rustle before the dialling of a phone. “Yeah, no she hasn’t talked. We’re getting her ready to be moved now.” He waited for a response as Dave grabbed one of Laura’s feet, feeding it into her trouser leg. When that was done, he began on the other before pulling them up her legs. “No, believe me, you’ll know we did our best when you see her.” The man growled as he stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him. Dave got her pants over her knees and began moving them up her thighs. Laura lay still, she didn’t care if it was difficult for him, she wasn’t going to help him do anything, even if it was dressing her again. Her thighs seared in pain as the material was pulled roughly over the cuts.

When he finally had them on her, he zipped them up before straddling her legs, grabbing her shirt and jacket and pulling them roughly back over her breasts. Laura gasped at the pain but lay still as Dave moved up and touched the chains.

“Little bitch,” he muttered, pulling the key out from his pocket and unlocking one of the handcuffs, beginning to unravel it from the other. Laura brought her leg up as hard as she could before spinning over, Dave falling off of her in a howl of pain, hitting his head on the bed side cabinet, falling to the floor. Ripping off her blindfold, Laura moved herself to the side of the bed as quickly as possible and leaned over Dave, a gun handle protruding from the back of his trousers, she grabbed it and stood against the wall, gun pointing straight at the door. Within seconds the door was wrenched open.

“WHAT THE HELL IS…” Laura pulled the trigger, the bullet hitting the man in the shoulder making him stumble backwards. She pulled the trigger again, the second bullet straight into his chest.

For a moment she remained by the wall, breathing short and shallow as she stared at the man lying dead before her, the other unconscious. Shaking from head to toe, she crouched down, searching Dave for the key to the handcuffs. Without luck, she stood up, a sudden glimpse of metal hitting her from the bed. Sighing, she grabbed it and unlocked her other wrist, moving the handcuffs and wrapping them around the end post of the headboard. She pushed the bedside cabinet aside and with a great heave, she pulled Dave to sitting against the post, handcuffing him, making sure to cross the chain once so that he couldn’t untwist it and move his hands more than a little.

She fleeced him again but found nothing before moving over to the other man. Grabbing the gun from the back of his trousers, she also found the mobile phone he’d been using. Pocketing it, she ran for the door, the pain all over her body not seemed to bother her as much as it had before. As soon as she was outside the house, she pulled the phone out. Jack, she had to call him, but what was the number to CTU? She knew the number to the main line to it, but not his private line. It had to be the main number. Frantically, she dialled it in.

“O’Brien.” Chloe answered, only to be shocked by a frantic voice.

“I need to speak to Jack Bauer. It’s Laura Henley!”

13:59:57pm

13:59:58pm

13:59:59pm

14:00:00pm