“But you have. You will!” She shied away from him as he reached for her, anger in her eyes. “I lost Mom. I lost Chase. I lost you, but I got you back…”
Jack frowned. Part of him wanted to tell Kim the truth about Chase Edmunds, that he hadn’t died in the Valencia bombing, and of the bravery and loyalty he had shown right up to the end … But the other man’s death was still raw, and Jack could see no reason to heap more pain and anguish on his daughter.
He opted for the one truth that he knew was certain. “Your mother loved you. Chase cared about you. And I will always love you too, Kim. That’s why I have to do this.”
She sat quietly and absorbed his terse recounting of the incident in New York, only breaking her silence with a muffled sob as Jack told her of Renee Walker’s death. Kim guessed how much Renee meant to her father, and the fact that she shared his pain in that moment cut him like knives. He told her of the men and women hunting him, and his headlong race across the country. And now it was coming to an end, now that he had reached her, he couldn’t find the words to express how he felt. Everything he said was a pale shadow, a ghost of his real sentiments.
He took a breath. “As long as I am here, you are in the crosshairs. And not just you. Stephen and Teri too. There are people out there who will use you to get to me, ruthless people. You were part of CTU once, you know what kind of world that is. There’s so much darkness, and I don’t want it to touch your life anymore.” He came close and took her hand, and this time Kim let him. Jack gave a shaky smile. “Your mother would be so proud of you, to see the woman you have become. And I know one thing for sure, Kim. You are the very best thing I ever did. You’re the one bright light at the center of my life, and for all the bleak places I’ve ever been to, all the things I’ve had to suffer … You make that worth it.”
Without words, she drew him into a hug, and he felt his daughter’s warm tears on his chest.
“You’re all I have left,” he told her, emotion choking his voice, “and I can’t put that in harm’s way. Even if it means I have to leave you behind. I will not let anyone hurt my family. You deserve a good life. I want you to live it.”
“That’s not fair!” Kim blurted out the words. “Damn it, Dad … You don’t have to be alone anymore. You don’t have to shoulder this by yourself. We can find a way … We could…” She trailed off as she finally came to the same understanding that he had. “It’s not fair,” she repeated.
“This is how it has to be,” Jack told her. “It’s the only road that’s open.”
They held each other in silence for long moments. Finally, Kim found her voice once more. “Where will you go?”
“Someplace off the clock,” he said. “I’ll go dark, I’ll slip away … and you’ll be safe.”
* * *
Lenkov pushed the American into an empty chair and took up a position too close to the other man, towering over him with obvious menace. Bazin leaned indolently against the wall across the room from the young doctor, his eyes flicking to Ziminova. He didn’t need to order her to keep watch. She just nodded and waited by the door, scanning the corridor.
Bazin didn’t expect to be interrupted, though. He gauged the man in the chair and guessed that this wouldn’t take long. “Well?” he prompted. “Tell me why I am here, Dr. Wesley.”
“How do you know who I am?”
“We have a file,” Bazin explained, making an airy gesture. “Information is so freely available in this country, honestly…” He chuckled. “It’s embarrassing. It’s not even difficult to find.” He told the man about how he had used a common Internet search engine to not only track down details of the doctor’s position at the hospital, but also of how he had been able to find social networking sites in short order that had pictures of charity baseball games and picnics, where Wesley’s wife and daughter were caught on camera. “A sweet child,” he concluded. “I have two myself.”
The doctor licked his lips. “This is about Kim’s father.”
“Where is he?” The doctor didn’t speak, but Bazin saw the answer in his eyes. He nodded to himself. “A few hours ago, I repeatedly brought a man to the point of drowning in the waters of a river. Over and over again, until he stopped hiding the truth from me. This I did in order to find Jack Bauer. And I am capable of far worse.”
The young man glanced up at Lenkov, who remained stone-faced. “I … I can’t help you.”
Bazin continued as if he had never spoken. “It is not a simple thing to betray someone. It goes against the grain. You are a good man, Dr. Wesley. I saw that about you, so I understand your reluctance to commit an act of disloyalty. You wonder how you would live with yourself afterward? I can tell you this: It is easier than you think.”
“Bauer is here,” Lenkov spoke for the first time.
Caught by surprise, the doctor flinched, and Bazin knew that Lenkov’s guess was correct. Ekel was already performing a sweep of the hospital in case Bauer had slipped into the building, but this was the first confirmation of it.
“I am going to make it easy for you, Doctor.” Bazin pushed off the wall and came closer. Wesley fought down his fear, admirably so for a man in his position, still clinging to a shred of defiance. Bazin cocked his head. “You have made life-or-death choices many times in your work, yes? This is no different. And there is no need to blame yourself. This is not your fault, my friend. I am giving you no choice.”
“I … I don’t—”
Bazin silenced him with a look. “Do you really want to consider what will be done if you refuse?” The words came to him effortlessly, with all the rote smoothness of a polished performance. “Unless you do exactly as I tell you, or if you try to disobey me, I will have your wife and your daughter killed.”
Color drained from the doctor’s face. “Please,” he managed. “No.”
“It will only take one word from me,” Bazin explained. “And I can assure you, it will be quite horrific.”
That defiance returned for one final flash of anger. “You son of a bitch!”
“Oh, yes.” He nodded, accepting the insult like a gift. “The lives of your family mean nothing to me. But Jack Bauer’s life does hold value. And so that is the trade we will make, Dr. Wesley. You will give up your father-in-law, and in return you, Kim and little Teri will go on living.”
“You’ll kill us all!” he blurted. “I know how this goes … I’ve seen your faces…”
Lenkov gave a rough chuckle. “You watch too many movies.”
“Let me explain it to you,” Bazin went on. “I have no interest in you, the woman, the child. I only care who you are in this moment because you have a connection to Jack Bauer. When that goes away, you will be beneath my notice. That is why we are making this arrangement.” He talked about the odious deal as if Wesley had already agreed to it, because on some level the man already had. “You will never speak to anyone of this conversation or of who you met, because that would mean your wife would learn about what you did. You don’t want that. You want Bauer to simply go away and for your very pleasant life to carry on as before.”
When the doctor hung his head, Bazin knew he had him. “What do I have to do?” he whispered, beaten down by his circumstances.
Bazin nodded to himself. He felt no pity for the man, no guilt for what he had just done. It was a transaction, nothing more. “A simple thing. I want you to help him,” he explained.
* * *
Jack trailed Kim out into the corridor and watched her bend down to sweep his granddaughter up into an embrace. She nodded a grateful smile to one of the nurses and turned back to him.
“Hey, Grandpa,” said the girl. “Do you have to go to work now?”
“I do,” he told her, forcing a smile. He took the paw of the plush toy she was holding. “Listen, sweetheart. Your friend Bear here is going to look after you while I’m not around, okay? You keep him close, and you make sure you listen to your mom and dad.”
“Okay,” Teri replied. “Be safe. That’s what
Mommy always tells Daddy when he goes to work in the morning.”
“I will.” Jack turned to see Kim’s husband walking quickly toward him from the elevators. The man looked pale and sweaty, and Jack knew instinctively that something was awry.
Time to go, Jack, said a silky voice in the depths of his thoughts.
Kim saw it too. “Stephen, what’s wrong?”
He took a breath, meeting his wife’s look before he tore himself away to glance at Jack. “Someone is, uh, here. I just talked to one of the security guys and they told me they removed a man with a Russian accent who was loitering down by the reception. Said he looked like a soldier.”
“The SVR.” Jack’s blood ran cold. “If there’s one, there’ll be more. They’re here for me.” He turned to Kim and gave her hand a squeeze. “This is it. I have to go.”
She nodded, eyes shining, and let him pull away. Jack headed down the corridor toward a service elevator, and Stephen fell into step with him. “Jack … Look, I can’t pretend to know what’s going on with you, but I have … I have to protect my family.”
“I know.” He nodded. “That’s all I ask of you.”
Stephen sighed. “Okay.” He swallowed hard and then pressed a key fob into Jack’s palm. “Take my car. The black Audi R8, in the staff parking lot. Ride the elevator down to the basement, cut through the first storage room on the right. That’ll lead you into the parking garage.”
“Thanks.”
Stephen looked away without meeting his gaze. “Good luck,” he said, as the elevator doors slid closed.
Jack went down to the basement with no stops, using the time to check his pistol. Only one mag left. He scowled. A stand-up engagement was not an optimal choice. I’ve got to draw them away …
The sublevel corridor was empty and Jack ducked out of the elevator, breaking into a run. As he went, he spun out multiple plans in his thoughts, weighing up his tactical options.
But until he entered the storeroom, it did not occur to Jack that he might have been betrayed.
He was barely through the door when they came at him.
23
“Daddy, what’s the matter?” Kim heard the panic bubbling up under the words as her daughter asked the question. Teri was a highly empathetic child, forever picking up on the emotions of others around her. Right now, she was feeling their fear.
“It’s okay,” Stephen insisted. “It’s all fine, pumpkin.” He carried Teri up close to his chest, arms wrapped around her as if she were the most precious cargo.
And she is, Kim told herself. She kept pace with her husband as they exited the elevator and made their way quickly toward the public parking lot where she had left the family sedan. “Stephen,” she insisted. “Did he tell you something?” When he didn’t answer, Kim pulled on his arm. “Stephen! Talk to me!”
He whirled around and she saw an expression on his face she didn’t recognize. Fear, yes, that was there. But something else. Anguish. Guilt. Kim’s stomach flipped over and she felt sick with a sudden, nameless dread.
“You have to get out of here,” he told her. “Take Teri and get away. Go to my mom’s place in Pasadena, stay there until you hear from me, don’t open the door to anyone else…”
Kim shook her head. “Not until you tell me what he said to you!”
“Damn it, Kim! For once will you just do what I ask?” Stephen shouted at her and she recoiled, taken aback by his unexpected reaction. In his arms, Teri immediately started to cry. As quickly as it had come, the moment of anger faded again. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he told them both. “Please. Just do this for me. Don’t ask why.”
They were at the car now, and Kim took her daughter, putting her into the booster seat. She strapped Teri in with her toy bear and then rounded on Stephen. “You know I’m not going to do that. That’s not who I am, it’s not how my father raised me.”
“Oh god, your father…” Stephen looked away. “Kim, we’re all in danger.”
“What did he say?” she repeated.
Stephen shook his head. “I didn’t have a choice.” He took a shuddering breath. “He didn’t say anything. It’s what Jack did, it’s the people who want him…”
A chill ran down Kim’s spine. “What happened?”
He looked back toward the hospital. “I’m going to make it right. But you have to get away from here, don’t you get it? The ones hunting him, they were already here! They know who we are, they know where I work … They could be watching the house, or looking for us right now. I can’t let them hurt us. I can’t lose you two.”
“Did…” She could barely form the words. “Did you give him up?”
“They said they would kill you. And Teri.” The words fell from him in a rush. “I had no choice! I had to stall them…”
Kim backed away. “No…”
“I’ll make it right!” he said. “But you have to leave. Please.”
For a moment, all Kim wanted to do was push past Stephen and run headlong back into the hospital to search for her father, but then she saw Teri in the backseat watching her with questioning eyes.
“Mommy?” said the little girl. “Are we gonna go?”
She seemed so small, so fragile, and suddenly Kim felt a powerful surge of protectiveness toward her child, enough that she found herself understanding the crippling choice her husband had made. “Yes,” said Kim, the words like ashes in her mouth. “We’re going.”
All around them there were hundreds of windows looking down on the street, and any one of them could be hiding somebody with a weapon, some killer ready to do them harm. Stephen glanced up, thinking the same thing, and pushed Kim toward the driver’s seat. “I won’t let anything happen to our family,” he vowed.
“I believe you,” said Kim, and she meant it.
Two minutes later they were on the highway racing east, and Kim found it hard to stay focused on the road ahead as tears blurred her vision.
* * *
Ziminova paused to check the safety on her Makarov pistol and then returned the weapon to the paddle holster in the small of her back. The weapon was a bad fit with the disguise of the nurse’s scrubs she was wearing, but now they were down on the lower levels of the hospital complex, it was less likely they would encounter someone who might recognize the SVR hunter team as interlopers. Ekel was waiting for them on the sublevel, that cocky grin he liked to wear plastered across his face. He talked about the American agents lying dead in plain sight up on the street, hidden inside their car, and made a passing mention of “other preparations” he had made. Bazin accepted this with a dismissive nod and did not explain any further. Ziminova wondered what Ekel was referring to, but she said nothing.
They found the storeroom and waited there, among the racks of medical supplies, old compressed air cylinders and stacked chairs. Lenkov bounced from foot to foot like a boxer limbering up before a bout, rolling a stubby baton around in one hand.
“You should have put a man on the doctor,” insisted Ekel. “He might panic and run.”
“No.” Bazin shook his head. “He will not flee. A doting young father has little perspective on things when it comes to his wife and child. I know. I was once that man.” He drew his Makarov and screwed a long silencer to the end of the muzzle.
Ekel raised an eyebrow. “Really? I find it hard to believe you are that attached to anything, sir.”
“Some parents are capable of great sacrifice,” he replied. “Others do not realize that their love for their offspring is a weakness they can never overcome.”
“If you are wrong…” began Lenkov.
Out in the corridor, they all heard the clank of the service elevator arriving.
Bazin smiled. “I am not wrong.” He nodded to the two men, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Remember. I want him alive.”
Ziminova shrank back into the shadows cast around by the stark lightbulb dangling from the ceiling, as Ekel and Lenkov took up positions on either side of the door.
It opened a m
oment later and Jack Bauer came into the room in a rush. Ziminova recognized the face she had seen staring up at her from the file documents she had read in the consulate, now set in a determined cast.
She held back and watched as Lenkov and Ekel rushed him. The blond-haired SVR agent led the attack, disarming the American as Ekel came in for his own shot at the man. The metallic shape of Bauer’s weapon skittered away across the concrete floor.
Their target shook off the moment of shock at the surprise attack almost instantly, however. Ziminova was impressed with how fast he turned it around. In seconds, Ekel was reeling backward with broken bones while Bauer was engaging Lenkov in close-quarter hand-to-hand combat.
It wasn’t an elegant engagement by any stretch of the imagination. Lenkov took a beating, coughing out specks of bright blood. Bauer’s fighting style was all about violence and velocity, putting as much hurt as he could on his assailants as was possible in the smallest amount of time.
Ziminova was already gauging him, considering how she would approach this man if the fight came her way.
But then the question became moot. She saw the moment as it happened, when the ebb and flow of the fight suddenly turned against Bauer. He is tired, yes. All that pressure from running, hour after hour, fleeing across the country, battling every step of the way … it had exacted a toll. The American made a mistake, he hesitated, and it was enough to bring him down. Ekel struck him in the back of the knee and Bauer toppled.
“End this,” snapped Bazin, gesturing sharply. “Now!”
The dark-haired man nodded wearily and pulled a boxy stun gun from his jacket pocket. He stepped up before Bauer could get to his feet, and pressed the contacts of the weapon into the man’s chest. Ziminova winced as raw voltage ripped into the American and sent him crashing back down to the floor.
With his foot, Bazin nudged a threadbare office chair into the middle of the basement, directly beneath the stark white lightbulb. “Secure him,” he ordered.
Lenkov and Ekel struggled with Bauer’s dead weight, both men feeling the harsh effect of the blows their target had laid on them. It took a while to maneuver him into place.
24: Deadline (24 Series) Page 30
