face and put him in the dirt.
A sliver of white bone was protruding from the leg of Frank’s trousers, and he gasped as he clutched at it. Jack helped himself to the mechanic’s cell phone and crushed it beneath his boot. He nodded at the broken leg. “That’ll heal. You’ll be able to walk okay in a couple of years. Ten months if you’re motivated.”
Chase pointed the crowbar’s head at Josh as the other man tried to get back up. “Stay,” he said “Be smart for once in your life.” He used the point to puncture the Pontiac’s tires and then tossed the crowbar into the long grass.
Jack gave him a look as they got into the Chrysler. “Is this Roker guy going to be any more trouble?”
“Nah.” Chase shook his head and started the car. “You’re carrying enough of that for both of us, right?”
* * *
Jorge Kilner winced as he walked through the field office, the bandage around his right calf pulling tight with each step he took. He had another wrapped over the palm of one hand and a couple of adhesive dressings on a couple of small cuts on his face—all the marks left behind by his brief and dangerous sojourn as Jack Bauer’s unwilling driver. Falling from the moving car had ruined his coat and now Kilner wore a raid jacket with the FBI crest on the chest and the initials of the bureau emblazoned on the back. Other agents in similar clothing looked up as he crossed the room, none of them willing to meet his gaze. Everyone had heard about the car chase through Chelsea and the stolen helicopter, despite attempts to keep a lid on the information, and by now Kilner’s part in the whole sorry mess had to be an open secret from here to Miami.
He scowled as he made his way toward the conference rooms. Some of the civilians who had been at the heliport were milling in an anxious little knot in a waiting area near the coffee machine, and as Kilner walked by them a man in a business suit sprang to his feet.
“Are you an agent?” he demanded.
Kilner’s lips thinned and he said nothing, just pointed at the jacket he was wearing.
The businessman launched into a tirade about how it was unfair to hold him here when he was a very important executive with a major corporation, who had a very important meeting with another major corporation in Baltimore that he was going to miss because of the FBI’s “interference.”
He looked up as Dell emerged from a side corridor, walking an older man out. “Thank you for your cooperation,” she was telling him. “If you’ll just wait here, we’ll get you a ride home and…”
The businessman turned on Agent Dell, immediately dismissing Kilner. “Finally. Look, I need to get out of this place. Can you just assume I saw what these people saw and leave it at that?”
Dell’s dark eyes flashed. “Sit down and wait,” she retorted, with the kind of tone someone might use on a poorly disciplined dog. “You’ll get your turn.” She glanced at Kilner. “Still with us?”
“More or less.” They walked away, leaving the businessman fuming. “You get anything useful?”
Dell jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “The old guy was in Korea and he offered to come with us to find Bauer. Said he had skills.”
“He can take my place. I think Hadley will can me for getting caught up with him.”
Markinson called out as they approached the open door to the briefing room. “Could go either way,” she offered.
“How so?”
“Soon as we got back here after securing the site, Hadley was dragged into a meeting with Special Agent Dwyer and the ASAC. If you listen real hard, you can hear O’Leary tearing him a new asshole even through the soundproofing.” She sipped at a plastic cup of water. “But did you not think of actually stopping the car, Agent Kilner?”
“No,” he said hotly. “That never occurred to me.” He glanced between Markinson and Dell. “I tried to bring him in. I really did. But you’ve seen Bauer’s file. He’s not exactly the
A sliver of white bone was protruding from the leg of Frank’s trousers, and he gasped as he clutched at it. Jack helped himself to the mechanic’s cell phone and crushed it beneath his boot. He nodded at the broken leg. “That’ll heal. You’ll be able to walk okay in a couple of years. Ten months if you’re motivated.”
Chase pointed the crowbar’s head at Josh as the other man tried to get back up. “Stay,” he said “Be smart for once in your life.” He used the point to puncture the Pontiac’s tires and then tossed the crowbar into the long grass.
Jack gave him a look as they got into the Chrysler. “Is this Roker guy going to be any more trouble?”
“Nah.” Chase shook his head and started the car. “You’re carrying enough of that for both of us, right?”
* * *
Jorge Kilner winced as he walked through the field office, the bandage around his right calf pulling tight with each step he took. He had another wrapped over the palm of one hand and a couple of adhesive dressings on a couple of small cuts on his face—all the marks left behind by his brief and dangerous sojourn as Jack Bauer’s unwilling driver. Falling from the moving car had ruined his coat and now Kilner wore a raid jacket with the FBI crest on the chest and the initials of the bureau emblazoned on the back. Other agents in similar clothing looked up as he crossed the room, none of them willing to meet his gaze. Everyone had heard about the car chase through Chelsea and the stolen helicopter, despite attempts to keep a lid on the information, and by now Kilner’s part in the whole sorry mess had to be an open secret from here to Miami.
He scowled as he made his way toward the conference rooms. Some of the civilians who had been at the heliport were milling in an anxious little knot in a waiting area near the coffee machine, and as Kilner walked by them a man in a business suit sprang to his feet.
“Are you an agent?” he demanded.
Kilner’s lips thinned and he said nothing, just pointed at the jacket he was wearing.
The businessman launched into a tirade about how it was unfair to hold him here when he was a very important executive with a major corporation, who had a very important meeting with another major corporation in Baltimore that he was going to miss because of the FBI’s “interference.”
He looked up as Dell emerged from a side corridor, walking an older man out. “Thank you for your cooperation,” she was telling him. “If you’ll just wait here, we’ll get you a ride home and…”
The businessman turned on Agent Dell, immediately dismissing Kilner. “Finally. Look, I need to get out of this place. Can you just assume I saw what these people saw and leave it at that?”
Dell’s dark eyes flashed. “Sit down and wait,” she retorted, with the kind of tone someone might use on a poorly disciplined dog. “You’ll get your turn.” She glanced at Kilner. “Still with us?”
“More or less.” They walked away, leaving the businessman fuming. “You get anything useful?”
Dell jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “The old guy was in Korea and he offered to come with us to find Bauer. Said he had skills.”
“He can take my place. I think Hadley will can me for getting caught up with him.”
Markinson called out as they approached the open door to the briefing room. “Could go either way,” she offered.
“How so?”
“Soon as we got back here after securing the site, Hadley was dragged into a meeting with Special Agent Dwyer and the ASAC. If you listen real hard, you can hear O’Leary tearing him a new asshole even through the soundproofing.” She sipped at a plastic cup of water. “But did you not think of actually stopping the car, Agent Kilner?”
“No,” he said hotly. “That never occurred to me.” He glanced between Markinson and Dell. “I tried to bring him in. I really did. But you’ve seen Bauer’s file. He’s not exactly the
Similar Books
