“There’s only one person I’m going to speak to: Jack Bauer.”
Annie stared at the profile of the CTU agent on her screen. She’d spent a good hour reading through everything he’d done, not just the descriptions but any and all case files available. She had the top-level clearance for it, after all. Annie wanted to understand his change from a highly commended Delta Force agent to a CTU agent demoted to Head of Field Ops. He was intelligent, brave, and thought outside the box, and his actions had saved the country more than once. However, he hadn’t been rewarded nearly as much as he should have. Instead, he was thrown under the bus for his ‘ludicrous, extreme, unethical behaviour’ according to one debrief. It didn’t sit right with her. The whole reason for CTU’s existence was to have an agency less bound by rules than the FBI that could investigate terrorists after the World Trade Center bombings. So why had Bauer been chastised?
But she wasn’t quite able to focus on the juxtaposition of the man’s achievements and unfair treatment when all she could think about was the monster in the other room. And, more importantly, the fact that Lena Smith or Nina Myers or whoever she really was had managed to destroy his life as well as hers. Although, she certainly felt a little guilty mourning Simon’s death when Bauer had lost his wife. It made Annie wonder what sick part of this woman wanted the CIA to bring Bauer all the way to DC. To taunt him? Was that her desire here? To force the CIA’s hand to bring someone who had already suffered enough, having most recently seen this woman pardoned and basically given a free pass to kill him by President Palmer, just for the slightest hope that she might talk.
She didn’t know what to do. Arthur and Joan hadn’t said anything, either. They weren’t about to negotiate with her, but they weren’t going to sit there and let their chance slip away at getting her to talk. Annie had watched her say those words, and she hadn’t said them in haste or to make them go on a wild goose chase. No, she’d meant them. Jack Bauer meant something to her. Was it all just a game to her? Did she seek amusement from taunting this man? Or did she genuinely want to talk to him? Somehow, she didn’t think the woman was capable of remorse. But Annie wasn’t just going to see it as a trivial request. Not if it meant getting the truth out of her. And she prayed that Bauer would understand that, too, even if it meant facing someone he probably never wanted to see again. He seemed objective enough to be able to push past whatever emotions he might have regarding her. Right? Then again, Annie wasn’t going to act like that was an easy task when all she could think of every time she looked at her was her responsibility for Jai and Simon’s deaths. It made her furious. And Arthur and Joan knew that which was why they weren’t letting her near Lena. Nina. Whatever her name was. She sighed. She needed to get in contact with Bauer. The longer Lena sat there in custody, the more of a chance she could be broken out, escape, or, worse, find some legal loophole by exploiting America and Russia’s sensitive relations.
It would be about four in the afternoon in LA right now. And she knew CTU wasn’t on alert for anything at the moment. At least, not in LA. So, hopefully, he wouldn’t be too hard to reach. Annie wasn’t sure why she was so nervous. Perhaps it was the latent adrenaline of the situation, the memories of the wood cabin still so vivid for her. She felt wrong for even having such fears when Bauer had suffered far worse. She dialled his listed contact phone number, and he picked up after only two rings.
“This is Bauer.” He spoke warily, and she knew her number would have come up as private.
“Agent Bauer.” She greeted. “This is Agent Annie Walker from Langley. Do you have a minute?”
He asked her for her badge number somewhat sternly. She recited it and listened as he typed something, presumably to verify the number and bring up her file. When he next spoke, he sounded a little friendlier. “What can I do for you? I’m, uh, not in charge of CTU anymore, in case that hasn’t gotten around. Agent Tony Almeida might be who you want-”
“No, no.” Annie interrupted, trying to sound relatively calm so he understood this was not some kind of active threat, no matter how much it made her body tense to think of Lena and what she was capable of. “This, well, Agent Almeida might have to know about this at some point anyway, but this is not mistaken. I want to talk to you.”
“Shoot.”
Annie took a breath. “We have a high-profile prisoner in our custody. She’s demanding to speak to you and to you only.”
“Who?”
She bit her lip. “That’s classified information I can’t tell you over the phone.”
He laughed nervously. “You can’t tell me the name of the person who wants to speak to me?”
“We can arrange a flight and accommodation for you to come to Virginia,” Annie explained, reciting what Joan had told her to say rather than try to appease this man’s confusion. “So you can speak to her in person.”
“You expect me to drop everything here and fly over without explaining who I’ll be speaking to or whether this relates to a relevant case?”
She sighed. “Everything will be clear once you come here. We’ve already drafted an email to your superior so he can assign someone to cover your work. We’re not telling him any more than we’ve told you except that the CIA is pulling rank to bring you here.”
Bauer seemed like he wanted to protest but couldn’t find the words. Annie wondered whether he’d figure it out by the time he made it to Langley. Then again, Nina Myers, as he’d known her, had been exiled to a specified quadrant in North Africa. She wasn’t supposed to be back in the States, let alone have travelled to Moscow and God knows where else in the last three years. That order had probably been the only thing to give Bauer peace, knowing that even though she had complete authority to kill him, she was too far away to be able to act on it and shouldn’t dare to push that boundary if she wanted any hope at freedom. Had Arthur and Joan thought this through? Or were they willing to accept whatever emotional upset this brought Bauer because getting information out of Lena was the priority?
“Fine.” Bauer conceded. “I’ll be there. But if CTU needs me, I don’t care what your superiors say; I’m leaving.” He concluded before hanging up the phone. Annie wondered whether Bauer was still adjusting to not being in charge anymore.
But what plagued her mind more was trying to understand what Lena’s game was here.
Because even in custody, Annie damn well knew she was still playing one.
After being checked at the gate in the complementary loan car, Jack made his way to the familiar entrance of the CIA office at Langley. It had been years since he’d last been here. There’d been some renovations by the looks of it, but everything was still very nostalgic for him. Still, he wasn’t exactly in the mood to appreciate it because he was still trying to figure out who this mystery prisoner was. He’d even sat with Tony and picked his brain about it. They were at a total loss. They’d gone through virtually every undercover mission and informant — both on and off-book — trying to think of who might still be around. The only thing to go off was that Agent Walker had said ‘she’ when referring to the prisoner. That eliminated a good chunk of the people on file. But even then, every potentially relevant woman he could think of was dead, incarcerated, or had no business getting in contact with him. He’d thought about Nina. Tony had, too. But they both knew her; she would be insane to show her face in the States again. She had been given the deal of a lifetime: a lifetime pardon and practically presidential permission to kill him. She wouldn’t dare risk losing that. Right?
Jack was led to a corridor where a blonde woman, one he recognised as Annie Walker from her file, greeted him with a smile. She was young but already had several commendations for her work as an agent based on what he’d read. She still had that light in her eye. The light that Jack and most of his colleagues had long since lost. It was nice to see that hope was still around for some agents. He shook her hand and followed her into the elevator.
“The Director of Operations and Head of the DPD will brief you before you’re taken to where she’s being held.” She explained. “I apologise for the secrecy.”
“It would have been nice to prepare,” Jack commented. “But if you’re saying it’s not necessary, then I’m holding you to that, Agent Walker.”
“Just ‘Annie’ is fine.” She smiled. “But yes, like I said, this is more about getting her to talk. We hope that your presence alone should be enough, Agent Bauer.”
“You can call me Jack.” He said, and she nodded. She looked a little nervous. He wondered whether that had more to do with the case or because of him; his file would not exactly make him sound approachable or friendly.
The doors opened to a bullpen that looked almost like the one at CTU LA. It had the familiar sounds of computers and people talking on the phone, the similar faint smell of filter coffee, and screens galore. He was offered said coffee but declined. He didn’t want to delay this any further. He needed to know what the hell was going on. Annie took him to a private office, where he was then introduced to Arthur and Joan Campbell. The commonality of the surname aside, he could have figured they were married from a mile away. It wasn’t even the wedding rings; it was simply the way they regarded each other. There was nothing unprofessional about their behaviour; he just had an eye for these things. It made him think of Tony and Michelle. Tony had mentioned they’d both put an application in for Langley. Perhaps he could check in on that for them while he was there, in case this was a total waste of his time. Then again, Annie had sounded quite desperate on the phone. He had to believe this was important.
After more hand-shaking and brief introductions with polite smiles, Jack took a seat across from the three of them in an armchair. They seemed a little on edge.
“We’ve recently discovered a mole in a subdivision of the CIA.” Arthur started. Jack felt a familiar sense of discomfort in his gut. “She was revealed to be a double agent for the FSB.”
“But, more importantly, we discovered this was not the first time she’s infiltrated an American federal agency,” Joan added, and Jack stiffened. “Namely, CTU Los Angeles, and, we suspect, Division, Department of State, RAND, and possibly the UN Security Council.”
That little resume was more than a tad familiar to him. This didn’t make any sense. She couldn’t be here. She couldn’t have done this again.
Annie was the one to say what nobody else wanted to, apparently. “We knew her as Lena Smith. You knew her as Nina Myers.” There was a very apologetic look on her face. No wonder she hadn’t wanted to deliver this news over the phone.
He felt his jaw twitch. He thought about Kim, how he’d assured her so emphatically that Nina could never hurt them again. He thought about how their relationship, although improving each day, was still so fragile, all because of what Nina had done. He thought about Tony, how he’d confided in him about his trust issues, but how happy he was to see him in an honest and committed relationship with Michelle. He felt sick. But he wasn’t going to let that override his slowly building fury that somehow this had happened again. Not just for the sake of the people he cared about, he was wondering about the three people in this room and the bullpen beyond. How many of them had she already hurt or killed? He was here now. He could stop it this time.
“How the hell did this happen again? You mean to say, Nina, who was exiled to North Africa, not only resurfaced in the United States but managed to reapply for and establish herself as a CIA agent?” He exclaimed. “How did nobody vet her profile?”
“I knew her even before you did. We worked together for a year in Nairobi before she reappeared here about six months ago.” Joan explained, and there was something very solemn in her eyes. “She’s rotated under God knows how many aliases. Up until recently, Nina Myers was the only one compromised. She kept them all very compartmentalised. She never stayed in one place too long. She had access to records that could prevent even a stringent security check from collating her identities.”
Jack shook his head slowly. It made sense. Rationally, he knew it did. Nobody had thought about Nina as much as he had in the last five years or so. Nobody kept her in the back of her mind, taunting him with painful but pleasant memories, except him. Yes, of course, her actions would have been made known to the CIA, but nobody had looked into it as much as him, not even the sub-committee they’d arranged. She had the capability to do this. And it was terrifying. But if they’d caught her now… and Palmer got word of it… maybe they could make sure it never happened again. Properly, this time. Still, he wasn’t going to lie to himself. This was for his closure, too. This was for Kim. This was for Tony. This was for everyone she’d hurt.
So, if she wanted to talk, then he didn’t want to wait anymore.
“Let me see her,” Jack ordered. “Right now. I’ll make her talk.”
“Agent Bauer…” Arthur said warningly. “What we intended was for you to be present while we interrogated her-“
“I don’t give a damn what you intended.” Jack bristled, cutting him off. “You’ve brought me all the way here. This is my interrogation now. You owe me this. The CIA owes me this.”
The three of them looked between each other. There was sympathy there. More than he’d ever gotten from his superiors back in LA.
“Look. We’ve kept this as off-book as we can. Nothing has been revealed to anyone outside of this room.” Joan clarified. Jack wondered what Annie had to do with it. He’d seen her file. She wasn’t exactly the head of any department or in a position of authority. He wondered if it was based on personal involvement. “Obviously, we will supervise you, and if we don’t like something, we won’t hesitate to pull you out of there. But the fact is, she isn’t talking, Agent Bauer. She said she’d speak to you, and we have faith that she will. You’re our only option.”
He took a breath. They trusted him. They needed him. He couldn’t screw this up. No matter how much it was going to hurt.
“Take me to her.”
There was silence as they watched Lena through the glass. She wore electrodes to scan her vitals. Annie looked at the screen. Everything was perfectly normal. Not a shred of fear or even discomfort in her. Jack stood beside her and was unreadable. She knew Jack had interrogated her before when she had intel about a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. However, what Annie remembered distinctly was that he had drawn his weapon and shot at her not once but twice to make her give up her information. She hoped if he went for a similar tactic again, he’d still remember to miss her head. She still didn’t know what to make of him. This was obviously a very personal case for him. But he seemed more than capable of compartmentalising and remembering what was needed for the greater good. He seemed to recognise that no matter how deplorable Lena was, she was still a very valuable prisoner, and her information could be vital for national security.
The door opened, and the agent who’d been checking the machinery confirmed everything was ready to go. Annie looked at Jack, who nodded before entering the room. Lena gave him a surprised look. But, if Annie wasn’t mistaken, something had softened in her ever-so-slightly. Lena and Jack had had a personal history. Just as Lena had with Joan, but judging by the amount of detail, Annie was willing to believe that Jack had been more than just a pawn in her game. Why else would she have requested him? It had to be beyond work or the fact that he had spent more time with her than anyone else. Nina Myers had been her longest cover, which was likely why it had ultimately been her demise. She should have known better. Then again, she also should have known better than to try to resurface at the CIA again. Maybe Jack was a weakness. Maybe she genuinely had feelings for him — although that was quite hard for Annie to believe given her psychopathic behaviour — and she’d let that interfere with her plan.
“Well… I didn’t think the CIA was that desperate. I hope they put you in first class when they flew you here, Jack.” She said with a smile.
Jack folded his arms. “You were supposed to stay in North Africa. You want to tell me what you’re doing here?” He asked coolly.
“I wanted a change of scenery,” Lena replied.
Annie observed the way that both of them kept their eye contact with each other. It made her think of a stand-off from all the Western movies she watched with her dad as a kid. They might be speaking suspiciously nonchalantly, but their body language was another story. Her eyes flitted to the screen of Lena’s vitals. Still nothing.
“You really thought you could pull this stunt again? You didn’t think that someone, anyone, might recognise you?” He genuinely seemed to be asking the question. He wasn’t trying to fish; he wanted to know.
Lena shrugged. “It was fun while it lasted. It helped me to cover my tracks. And I got to see Joan again. She’s watching this, isn’t she?” Lena moved her head so she was looking right through the glass. She happened to pinpoint precisely where Joan was standing, which sent a chill down Annie’s spine. “I do love the way you get jealous, Joan. I wonder if it hurts to see Jack do this instead of you?”
Joan’s cheek twitched, and Arthur placed a hand on her shoulder.
“I don’t need to watch you hurt anybody else, Nina,” Jack said, and she looked at him again. “Or do you prefer Lena? I doubt either of these are the truth. Am I even going to get that out of you today?”
“It’s Yelena.” She answered, and Annie was surprised by her honesty - at least, she was somewhat sure she was being honest. “I always found it easy to use names close to my real name. That way, I wouldn’t have to force myself to get used to responding to different things. I did have a lot of aliases to juggle.”
“I told you last time I spoke to you like this that you were worse than a traitor. You just do this for your own amusement. You don’t care about who you hurt. You just want your money and your power.” Jack said bluntly. “So, why don’t we cut to the chase? You’re not going anywhere. Palmer’s pardon for you? Null and void. As soon as he gets on the phone, he will not hesitate to put you in solitary confinement for the rest of your life. That is if he doesn’t order your execution.”
There was such an ominous tone to Jack’s voice. It both terrified and amazed Annie to see that Lena was barely reacting. She wasn’t afraid of him. Was she afraid of anything?
“Oh, but you’re not going to call Palmer.” She said with a smile.
Jack furrowed his brow.
“This is all going to go away quietly. Because if you don’t let me go in the next two hours, I will singlehandedly make the government and the public lose all trust in the CIA and CTU.”
Nobody seemed to have anticipated this. She still had the upper hand, it seemed. She’d planned for this. The only reason she’d demanded Jack’s presence was so she could make him suffer once again.
“There are four agents who can hear me, yes? Arthur, Joan, Annie, and Jack?” Lena cleared her throat. “I have scheduled correspondence to journalists from every major media outlet. Each message gives the same information. Joan, you’ve relapsed after five years of sobriety. You’ve gotten a new prescription for Oxy under an alias. It’s the one you used on that trip to Catalina with me all those years ago. That wouldn’t be very good for your reputation or the CIA’s, would it? Nor would it be very safe, given you’re supposed to have a covert identity.”
Joan wrapped her arms around her body. She wouldn’t meet Arthur’s eye, who looked both shocked and worried for her. Annie had no idea she’d gone through such a thing. But she knew that not everyone could manage the mandated therapy offered by the CIA. Some things just left too many scars.
“As for you, Arthur, your son, Teo, is causing quite the problem in Colombia. Can you imagine the scandal of the director of the CIA having an illegitimate, criminal son?”
Son? Arthur and Joan didn’t have any children. Unless… well, if Lena was saying he was causing trouble, he might not exactly be a child anymore. Joan snapped out of her shame, her head shooting up to look at him with the same expression he’d offered her. Except she looked much more shocked than worried. How could he have kept this from her? They didn’t keep secrets like that. They were… they were rock solid.
“Annie. Oh, sweet Annie, you were so eager to work for me and do whatever it took to get close to Simon.” The mention of his name made her heart hurt. She could still see his body beside her in her kitchen, bleeding out, his eyes wide. “But you haven’t had a perfect career, have you? There’s been quite a few slip-ups that Joan and Arthur have had to cover for you. I bet it’s convenient having Auggie in your pocket to help you. However, that doesn’t change the fact that you were taken from the Farm too early. I don’t think the public would be too keen to hear that the CIA is so desperate for agents that they’re pulling them out of training early. Inexperienced, too bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. It’s a recipe for disaster, really. And I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard for people to figure out who your sister is. You don’t want to drag her into this, do you?”
Annie’s body tensed. She thought of her sister in California and her nieces. Having them far away was supposed to be a good thing, but now she wanted nothing more than to hold them tight. She didn’t give a damn about her reputation like that, but she did care about her family’s safety. Jack had looked back at the glass with every name drop. He looked concerned, but Lena hadn’t even gotten to his secret yet.
“That just leaves you, Jack. I know you’ve been busy. You’ve been preparing to go undercover with the Salazars. I can make sure they know exactly who you are before you even make it to Mexico. I imagine they might not like you too much after that. But that would be boring. What I can do, however, is tell Chappelle that you’ve started using, only your vice is a little more illegal than Joan’s.” She smirked. “I don’t think he’ll believe you’re just doing it for your ‘cover’. Don’t feel too bad, Jack. Grief is a difficult thing.” She lifted a shoulder. “Or so I’m told.”
“How do you know that?” Jack asked, gritting his teeth. Annie wasn’t quite sure if the question was on their whole behalf. “How the hell do you know about any of this?”
“I did have top-level clearance, Jack. It wasn’t that hard.” Lena explained simply. “You did require a little more creativity. I just decided to keep an eye on you and what you did outside of work. Kim, too-“
As soon as she said the word, Jack’s hand seized her throat fiercely. “If you even think about hurting Kim again-“
Still, even as she was deprived of oxygen, she looked indifferent. Arthur barked an order to get Jack out of there, and Annie felt frozen in place. Joan was staring blankly ahead of her. The guards dragged Jack out, but he was mostly compliant in letting go of her. Arthur seemed to be the only one capable of speaking and got them out of the vestibule and back to his office.
“Tick-tock,” Lena called. “Everyone’s got skeletons in their closet. If you don’t let me go, I will be more than happy to keep digging.”
“No. We are not letting her go, and that’s final.” Jack said sternly. “Damn the threats to the CIA’s reputation. That’s why we have lawyers. How do we know she won’t just reveal the information anyway? It’s better if the CIA gets ahead with this and prepares a statement.”
“He’s right, Arthur. I will do whatever it takes to minimise this.” Annie added, looking at him. “I’ll go back to the Farm. I don’t care. We can’t let her get away with this.” Jack noted her integrity and loyalty to the agency. It was good to see in a junior agent, but it was just unfortunate that her scandal wasn’t even the biggest of the four to deal with. Two drug scandals were a problem but not unheard of. A prematurely released agent they could spin by saying she was of exceptional talent, something he believed based on her file to be true. As for the DCS having an illegitimate and, by the sounds of it, criminal son, that wasn’t going to go away as easily.
Arthur seemed to be deep in thought. He kept looking at his wife, who hadn’t said a word. Given what Nina had revealed, Jack couldn’t blame her. Yes, the revelation that her husband had an illegitimate son was huge. But he was mainly thinking about her prescription drug problem. He’d spent the last three months desperately trying to keep his own addiction a secret from everyone, especially Kim. He told himself every time he filled that needle that it was for the sake of the Salazar operation, but deep down, he knew it was only to numb the aching grief he’d carried for almost five years. A kind of grief that always tended to turn into rage whenever he saw Nina’s face. Jack held sympathy for Joan. They might not be in the same position, but he could count on one hand the number of federal agents or army operatives he knew who didn’t drink or use, at the very least, smoke. And even then, one mission could change that for a person. It didn’t make it right. But he could understand.
What Jack did know wasn't right, under any circumstances, was releasing Nina.
“She’s bluffing; she won’t do it. If we let her go, she could use that to humiliate us, too.” Arthur postulated. “Either way, we need to prepare for scrutiny from the media in the next…” he glanced at his watch, “hour and forty-two minutes.”
“Starting with, no offence, your son, Arthur,” Jack said. “One, because being DCS makes you the most public out of the three of us, but two, that’s an international incident.”
He sighed and still wouldn’t meet his Joan’s gaze. “He’s thirty-two years old. He’s working deep cover with the CIA. He is not a terrorist.”
“Are you saying that as a husband or the DCS, Arthur?” Joan asked, her voice thin.
“It’s a long story.” He dismissed. “But we’ll deal with it. I lost contact with him a long time ago, which, given the current threat… is probably for the best.”
Joan had moved over to her computer. “We need to figure out exactly which files she’s accessed. We need to know how much she knows because if she has everything, if she has details that we don’t even know about, then we can’t possibly win this fight.”
Annie nodded. “I can put Auggie on it.”
“No, don’t,” Joan said somewhat abruptly before immediately calming herself. “I’ll do it. You should stay here and discuss your options with Arthur.”
She left quickly before anybody else could say anything. Jack didn’t quite trust that. The other thing that he’d been thinking over was the implication that Joan had had the same kind of relationship with Lena that he had had with Nina. She might not have threatened to reveal that, but she very well could if she wanted to. That wasn’t going to be easy to live down, either. And, knowing the way the media worked, especially around federal agencies and their scandals, it might even overshadow the drama of Arthur’s son simply because she was a woman. Her career would be finished. Joan didn’t strike him as the kind of person to be shallow enough to prioritise that over everything else, but it was a factor. And her husband was going to be affected one way or another.
“Jack, you might be the only one to catch a break here,” Arthur concluded. “We can fudge the dates. We can say that you’ve been undercover, and your drug usage was solely for that. Even though…” He gave him a discerning look. “According to Lena, that’s not quite true, is it?”
He looked away. “No. I don’t want to cover lies with more lies. She knows the truth. We have to stop her from releasing that intel, not to cover my ass, but because that mission is crucial for national security.”
“Don’t the Salazars just run a drug cartel? Why isn’t this an ATF mission?” Annie asked.
Jack sighed. “What level of clearance do you have?”
“Enough to know,” Arthur answered on her behalf. “We’re in this together now, whether you like it or not.”
“We have intel to indicate they’ll be in contact with someone who is offering a lethal bioweapon and that they intend to sell it to the highest bidder." He explained after a beat. "It’s a highly infectious pathogen, worse than Anthrax.”
Both of them raised their eyebrows in shock.
“We’re running out of time.” Jack reminded them. “We need to figure out how she’s doing this and stop her. She’s got the information, but we can stop it from getting out.” He turned to Annie. “This… Auggie, do you think he’s capable of finding out how she’s contacted the media?”
She nodded. “Absolutely. If anyone can do it, it’s him.”
That reminded him of Joan. She had just said she’d tell Auggie to look up the files. She should have come back by now. Something didn’t feel right in his gut. She was one of the superior agents here. She had access to everything. He reflected on everything they’d discussed. She had barely said a word. At first, Jack thought it had been because she was ashamed, but no person got into the position she was in without having a thick skin. She hadn’t objected to letting her go, but she certainly hadn’t agreed with any of them either. She’d been frantic to leave the room and try to find the media details. Perhaps she genuinely took Nina for her word and believed she’d hold up her end of the deal. If she’d known Nina longer than he had, he had to respect her judgement here.
At the same time, all he could think about was the fact that she and Arthur had the most to lose here. And nobody would care about Arthur more than his wife.
Jack moved to the door, listening as Annie and Arthur called out his name with confusion. He was grateful for his memory because he knew exactly how to navigate back to the interrogation rooms, striding with purpose in a way that thankfully made most security guards step out of his way. As soon as he got to where Nina had been, the first thing he noticed was a distinct lack of protection there. The large pane of glass in the vestibule revealed an empty chair where she had once been.
“She let her go.” He concluded, whipping his head around.
"What?" Arthur said with a squint.
"Your wife let Nina go." Jack turned to Annie, knowing Arthur would be only be easy to talk to once he came to the same conclusion. “What’s the fastest way out of here?”
“The fire exit. She might already be out by now.” Annie said worriedly.
He cursed under his breath. Arthur called to block off the exits, but they followed her lead to an empty parking lot. He could faintly hear an engine screeching and found Joan standing there with a look of regret but also relief. He’d been called here so he could make sure Nina stayed in custody once and for all, and she’d just been let go once again. Nina had everything at her disposal to disappear completely. Worse still, the time wasn’t up. They still didn’t know if Nina would release her information to the press anyway. He felt his grief and rage resurface again. He thought about all the people he was going to let down. Kim had taken great comfort in knowing Nina was confined to one area of the planet far, far away from the two of them. Tony, too, he was certain, because he would understandably be worried about Nina using Michelle against him like she had used Teri. How was he supposed to face them and tell them what had happened? He couldn’t keep this from them. Tony, for one, could find out. He had the clearance and would be livid if he knew he’d kept something this huge from him.
As Jack met Joan’s pained expression, he saw red.
“Bauer, get your hands off my wife!” Arthur barked as Joan gasped for air beneath his grip. Her eyes were wide with terror as he stared her down, but Jack could also see sorrow there.
And, rationally, he knew the longer they waited, the smaller their chances of catching Nina.
Jack dropped her, holding his hands up, and Arthur immediately went to tend to Joan, who was coughing profusely. When he turned around, Annie looked very afraid of him. It appeared she’d been in too much shock to call security. Arthur probably could have, but at the same time, this was a hugely scandalous incident, and he probably wanted to protect Joan’s privacy. Annie said nothing, pressing her lips together. Several minutes passed before Joan started breathing properly and stood up. Arthur stared daggers into him, but Joan now looked deeply ashamed. However, Jack could tell she was ashamed about facing Arthur, not what she’d done. She'd looked content before he'd grabbed her. It affirmed to him that her history with Nina was complicated. Perhaps, as complicated as his.
“Get inside.” Arthur hissed. “Now.”
He kept an arm around Joan as they walked up the stairs, but she moved away from him. They, thankfully, managed to avoid other agents along the way before they made it back to the office they’d been in before.
“Why the hell did you let her go?” Jack asked, keeping his distance so Arthur wouldn’t assume the worst.
“I had to,” Joan replied. She took a breath to muster her courage before turning to face her husband. “Everything was going to come back to you. The CIA never would have recovered. Your career would have been destroyed.”
“She has ammunition that she can use against us at any time now.” Jack rebutted. “We were supposed to figure out how she was doing it and shut it down, not let her pull the strings..”
“She won’t use it.” Joan insisted.
Jack huffed, keeping his voice firm. “She has the CIA wrapped around her finger. She will do what she’s done before; she'll resurface as somebody else and get herself into a position where she can manipulate government records to cover her tracks.”
“He’s right, Joan,” Annie admitted quietly. “I don’t… I know you were close with her, but I don’t understand why you did this.”
Arthur didn’t say anything, but he had some mix of confusion and disappointment on his face. Jack couldn’t help but think of Tony and Michelle again and prayed they would never be in a situation where they had to make difficult decisions between each other and the law. Joan had just let a federal fugitive run free and allowed her to leave with damning evidence against the CIA. That wasn’t going to go away. It would have to go on record one way or another that Nina Myers was no longer in CIA custody and that she had violated the terms of her pardon. He would not allow this to be covered up. And, judging by Joan’s face, she knew that, even if Arthur hadn’t quite gotten there yet.
“Look…” Jack began again. “We don’t need to make this a big deal. It can stay private and at top clearance. But we’re not going to pretend it didn’t happen, either. She violated the terms of her pardon and needs to be held accountable for that. Which means admitting the CIA had her in custody, but now she’s gone.” He sighed. “Joan, I’m going to have to place you in custody.”
“What? Joan outranks you, Bauer! Who the hell do you think you are?” Arthur demanded.
“The only person who is willing to do the right thing.”
Arthur rubbed his chin, breathing heavily, desperate to maintain any control of this. “Are you… are you doing this because of her involvement with Lena all those years ago?” He asked, his tone grittier. “Because if so, that is rich coming from you.”
“I’m doing this because she released her, Arthur,” Jack explained. “She complied with a terrorist’s demands and let her not just escape but escape with valuable information. A terrorist who killed my wife.”
Arthur went to protest again, but Joan beat him to it. “Enough.” She exhaled. “Bauer is right. We can’t cover this up. I’ll get a lawyer.
We’ll fix this, Arthur.”
“No.” He refused. “I’m not letting you go to prison. Even in solitary confinement, you won’t be safe. You’re a leader of the CIA with a protected identity, for Christ’s sake.”
“I can get a lawyer from DOJ-“ Joan offered but was cut off again.
“Even if you miraculously get off a treason charge, your career will be ruined.” Arthur pointed out. “How is that any different to what you were trying to avoid for me?”
She shook her head. “But I’m not the DCS. I can be replaced quietly. You’re a public figure. I don’t care, Arthur. I know it was wrong, but I have faith that she’ll keep her end of the bargain.” Joan then turned to face him. “Bauer, call the Secret Service.”
He nodded, but as he went to call Aaron Pierce, he felt Arthur grab his arm.
“Annie, you need to leave,” Arthur instructed oddly calmly. “What I’m about to discuss is beyond your clearance level.”
In the corner of his eye, Annie appeared very conflicted. She was obviously still concerned by the apparent arrest of her supervisor, someone she likely looked up to. But Jack knew she had more logical reasoning here than Arthur. She’d seen it all happen firsthand. She’d worked under Nina and been hurt by her. She knew what had to be done. She didn’t want to argue with that and obliged. Joan still looked nervous but had already started to accept what would happen. He knew, on paper, that Joan was objective and a good leader of the CIA. Arthur was, too, but his objectivity had been lost here because, well, he was threatening to arrest his wife.
“Bauer, we don’t have to do this. You know that Lena is one of the most elusive fugitives we’ve ever had. She never would have stayed in custody for long.” Arthur explained. “I understand that you have particularly personal reasons for wanting her to be locked up for good, but I won’t let you go back to LA empty-handed.”
Jack furrowed his brow slightly.
“There are two agents applying for a promotion from CTU Los Angeles. Agent Almeida and Agent Dessler. They’ve been married for almost a year now, yes?” Arthur said. “I’m sure they’d appreciate the flexibility and pay increase they can get here rather than at CTU. You let this go… I’ll make sure they get what they want.”
“Arthur.” Joan berated. “You can’t blackmail him like this. What has gotten into you?”
“Joan, let me do this for you. Please.”
Jack pondered his offer, only for a moment. Yes, he knew how much Tony and Michelle were hoping to get those job offers. He knew they wanted kids and that it would be easier to have them working at this level. But he also refused to let Arthur hold this against Tony and Michelle. He didn’t want them intertwined with this disaster. They deserved to earn those jobs fair and square, not as part of such a scandalous cover-up. This was ending right now, the right way.
“Bauer, don’t listen to him,” Joan stated. “Let me pay the price.”
With that, he made the call, and within the hour, Palmer had a full understanding of what had happened. He expressed disappointment in Joan but also pity, noting that he would ensure her record of service wasn’t disregarded. But, for now, she would be placed under house arrest and stripped of her clearance immediately. The interagency notice would be that she had taken leave for personal reasons. Her indictment would be kept private for the sake of her dignity and also to avoid public outcry. They would keep an eye on Nina and where she might have gone, but Palmer assured him she would be arrested on sight if she was ever found again. It brought Jack some solace, and he could tell Palmer was happy to be able to retract her pardon. But he still knew he wasn’t going to be able to sleep well, knowing she had disappeared again.
As soon as it was over, Arthur coldly asked him to leave. On the way out, he walked past Annie, who looked like she wanted to say something but couldn’t and eventually, Jack made it back to his car. He let out a long breath as soon as he sat in the driver’s seat, thinking about what he’d just done. He’d torn a marriage apart all because the thought of Nina not being punished had brought him so much anger and a resurgence of his grief. But, admittedly… he wasn’t just thinking about Joan and her future. He wasn’t even thinking about Arthur or Annie. No, he was fixated on Nina and what she might be doing, as he had been for the last three years since her pardon on the day of the nuclear bomb threat in LA. It had become such a familiar thought to him. He looked at the time and realised it was five minutes until Nina’s original deadline of releasing that scandalous information to the media. Despite his argument that Nina could and would use this information against them at any time… he realised now that Joan was probably right. Nina wouldn’t risk it. At least… not at this second after she'd gotten what she'd wanted.
When the minute hit, Jack’s phone rang. Unknown caller. He already knew who it was.
“Arresting Joan was a good call. You always do the right thing, don’t you, Jack?”
Jack gripped the phone tight. “Do you even care about her? Her own husband thinks she did this for you.”
“I did care about Joan,” Nina said simply. “But I never did love her as much as I loved you. Although, she did just give me my freedom again. I should find a way to thank her.”
Hearing her say that made Jack struggle to push down the feelings he’d had at seeing her face in the interrogation room today. Not the rage, not the grief, not the pain. The joy. The happiness. The part of him that he was so ashamed to admit was glad to see she was okay and hadn’t been killed during her exile. Only now, in privacy, could he finally acknowledge those emotions. He could finally admit that he was a little relieved that Nina wouldn’t be behind bars for the rest of her life. He didn’t know who he was without constantly thinking about where she might be. He knew he wouldn’t be satisfied if she was in prison. The only way he’d found it in himself to move on after losing Teri was to channel his suffering into anger and determination to know where she was and what she was doing at all times. It had given him his edge back. It made people respect his authority even if they believed he was unstable.
Most of all, though, he couldn’t bear to see her die. He could threaten her all he wanted, but the thought of her dying would mean not just the death of his only purpose left in life but also the death of all the memories they’d shared before she killed Teri.
And she knew that.
“Well, I don’t want this phone call to be traceable, so I’ll leave you to it, Jack. Send Joan my love.”
As the dial tone sounded, Jack sat there and knew undoubtedly now that he had to agree with Joan’s decision.
But he would take that secret to his grave.
Or, at least, the next time she resurfaced, and he had to act like he despised her with every fibre of his being.