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24 Declassified: 06 - Chaos Theory

Page 24

by John Whitman


  Zapata had crawled through the shrubs and into a hole that led under the fence. Jack followed.

  7:39 P.M. PST CTU Headquarters, Los Angeles

  CTU Headquarters was in chaos. Phones were ringing, data were pouring in, and the teams were struggling to keep up with it.

  Nina, Tony, Chappelle, and Henderson were gathered in the conference room.

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  “This doesn’t make sense,” Nina said, examining one note. “Authorities at Staples Center say they have the body of Peter Jiminez. What was he doing there?”

  “I don’t know what Peter’s been up to,” Henderson said.

  Tony had been holding a phone to his ear. “Jack again.” He listened, his eyes widening in surprise. “Are you—? Okay, we’ll do it.” He spoke to the others. “Jack killed Peter. Jiminez was trying to kill him. Jack doesn’t know why.”

  “He couldn’t have been working for Zapata,” Nina said. “What was he doing?”

  Chappelle glowered. “Chris, have the analysts run checks on Peter’s phone logs. Let’s see who he’s been talking to.”

  Henderson nodded.

  7:45 P.M. PST 110 Freeway

  On the far side of the fence, Jack worked his way gingerly down into a barranca filled with brambles. Now and then he stopped to listen. Over the random sounds of honking horns from the freeway back beyond the fence, he could hear Zapata out there somewhere, crawling away. Then the sounds stopped.

  Jack hunted him slowly, methodically. But he guessed what Zapata was doing. After a moment, he turned back the way he’d come. The barranca was

  dark, but in the gloom Jack recognized the spot where he’d slid down into the ditch. Zapata was there, just crawling out of the brush. “Nice try,” Jack said. The anarchist shrugged. “Doubling back is too predictable, but it was all I had left.”

  Jack looked down at him. Zapata was bruised and beaten, but even so, he looked too normal to have caused so much trouble. “You missed the Chairman,” Jack said.

  Zapata nodded. “A shame, too. It would have been interesting to see the infrastructure of this company collapse. Oh well, sometimes events are unpredictable after all.” The anarchist’s bruised face smiled at Jack. “You, for instance. You’re quite a tool for your government. A loose cannon, right? A maverick. Unpredictable.” He nodded appreciatively.

  “Not really,” Jack said. “The truth is I’m pretty predictable.” He shot Zapata in the head.

  About the Author

  JOHN WHITMAN is the author of numerous books and projects, including the “Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear” series, Zorro and the Witch’s Curse, and, most recently, the trading cards for “24 Day 3.” He is a 4th-degree black belt and defensive tactics instructor in Krav Maga, the official handto-hand combat system of the Israeli military, has trained in protective services and defensive tactics in both the United States and Israel, and has served as an instructor of U.S. law enforcement agencies and military anti-terrorist units.

  www.fox.com/24

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  24 DECLASSIFIED Books

  From HarperEntertainment

  Chaos Theory Vanishing Point Cat’s Claw Trojan Horse Veto Power Operation Hell Gate

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  24 DECLASSIFIED CHAOS THEORY. Copyright © 2007 by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader May 2007 ISBN 978-0-06-133995-0

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  About the Publisher

  Australia

  HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd. 25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321) Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au

  Canada

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900 Toronto, ON, M5R, 3L2, Canada http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca

  New Zealand

  HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited

  P.O. Box 1 Auckland, New Zealand http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz

  United Kingdom

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 77-85 Fulham Palace Road London, W6 8JB, UK http://www.uk.harpercollinsebooks.com

  United States

  HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 10 East 53rd Street New York, NY 10022 http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One: The Following takes place between the Hours of 8 P.M. And 9 P.M. Pacific Standard Time

  Chapter Two: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 9 P.M. and 10 P.M. Pacific Standard Time

  Chapter Three: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 10 P.M. And 11 P.M. Pacific Standard T

  Chapter Four: The Following takes place between the Hours of 11 P.M. and 12 A.M. Pacific Standard Ti

  Chapter Five: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 12 A.M. and 1 A.M. Pacific Standard Tim

  Chapter Six: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 1 A.M. and 2 A.M. Pacific Standard Time

  Chapter Seven: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 2 A.M. and 3 A.M. Pacific Standard Tim

  Chapter Eight: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 3 A.M. and 4 A.M. Pacific Standard Tim

  Chapter Nine: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 4 A.M. and 5 A.M. Pacific Standard Time

  Chapter Ten: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 5 A.M. and 6 A.M. Pacific Standard Time

  Chapter Eleven: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 6 A.M. and 7 A.M. Pacific Standard Ti

  Chapter Twelve: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 7 A.M. and 8 A.M. Pacific Standard Ti

  Chapter Thirteen: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 8 A.M. and 9 A.M. Pacific Standard

  Chapter Fourteen: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 9 A.M. and 10 A.M. Pacific Standard

  Chapter Fifteen: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 10 A.M. and 11 A.M. Pacific Standard

  Chapter Sixteen: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 11 A.M. and 12 A.M. Pacific Standard

  Chapter Seventeen: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 12 P.M. and 1 P.M. Pacific Standar

  Chapter Eighteen: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 1 P.M. and 2 P.M. Pacific Standard

  Chapter Nineteen: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 2 P.M. and 3 P.M. Pacific Standard

  Chapter Twenty: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 3 P.M. and 4 P.M. Pacific Standard Ti

  Chapter Twenty-One: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 4 P.M. and 5 P.M. Pacific Standar

  Chapter Twenty-Two: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 5 P.M. and 6 P.M. Pacific Standar

  Chapter Twenty-Three: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 6 P.M. and 7 P.M. Pacific Stand

  Chapter Twenty-Four: The Following takes place Between the Hours of 7 P.M. and 8 P.M. Pacific Standa

  About the Author

  24 Declassified Books From HarperEntertainment

  Copyright Notice

  About the Publisher

  COVER

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  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 THE
FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEE

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  Copyright

 

 

 


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