Traces in the sand

Set  after Day 2, Chase has just started working for CTU.


„Dammit, Tony, we can’t afford to loose this data!
– Well, then you’ll have to reassign one of your people. It's crucial to the investigation to know what’s on this chip.”

Tense and edgy Chase crossed his arms in front of his chest, his eyes automatically doing a quick sweep of their dark surroundings as he heard his bosses voice turn more irritated with every second of the conversation.

“Dammit! You’re wasting our time here! Just have one of them do it" Jack snapped impatiently. Another pause of strained silence followed when he listened to Tony on the other end of the line. His voice was dangerously low when he said, teminating the conversation:

"Do what you have to do. But I’ll hold you personally accountable if one more bomb detonates because of this.”

Jack angrily flipped the phone shut and letting his frustration get the better of him smashed his fists down onto the steering wheel.

Chase knew better than to comment on Jack's outburst. His eyes firmly fixed on the deserted street in front of them he stated after a few moments of silence: “So he won’t reassign one of them.”

“No. Probably his ego can’t handle us being right again the second time in 12 hours so he’s decided to have his people work up his leads instead.” 
Jack let out an irritated huff then turned to his young partner:
“We’ll have to get back to CTU and try to get something off the chip ourselves.”

“Fat chance we’ll just destroy it” Chase muttered.

“I don’t like this either, Chase, but our hands are tied, we can’t sit here all night. Let’s just get this done.” Jack stretched to turn the ignition key.

“Wait a second” Chase said slowly, still trying to decide if this really was a good idea as the words already had left his lips.

Jack turned his head towards him. “What is it?”

Chase sighed. “I know someone who might be able to help us. A friend of mine from Chicago, a very capable computer analyst.”

Jack’s eyes narrowed, trying to estimate the risk of bringing someone from outside CTU into this. “Do you trust him?” he asked.

“Her” Chase corrected his assumption. “With my life.”

Jack scanned his features for any trace of hesitation but his partner’s gaze didn’t waver.

“You think she’d be able to help us?”

“Positive. I don’t know anyone who’s better than she is.”

The Head of CTU field ops nodded slowly, doing the same automatic sweep of the nightly street outside as Chase had moments before. “You’re aware of the fact that this could cost both of us our jobs if it goes wrong.”

“I am” Chase confirmed, searching his partner’s eyes. “It won’t.”

Jack nodded again, starting the engine. “Let’s go wake her up then.”

 

Twenty minutes later they stopped in front of Chase’s place. Jack looked over at the dark windows, his brow furrowed.

“Forgot to tell me she’s your girlfriend?” he asked.

Chase opened the door. “She isn’t. We just live together.”

Jack got out of the car as well, automatically checking for his gun when he closed the door.

Chase frowned at him. “If you’re planning on intimidating her, forget it, she won’t do anything for us if you put her under pressure. Let me handle this.”

“Fine” Jack growled, following his partner over to the house. “What’s her name by the way?”

“Chloe” Chase said, unlocking the door. “Chloe O’Brian.”

“Chloe” Jack repeated.

“Take off your shoes” Chase ordered, bending down to untie his.

“Excuse me?”

“It might make her less cranky to get woken up at four in the morning of two guys covered in mud from head to toe if we don’t ruin the carpet.”

“Whatever” Jack sighed, removing his combat boots.

 
After closing the door behind them Chase proceeded down the little hallway and into the living room with a now sockfooted Jack on his heel. The  room was illuminated solely by  the blueish light  originating from a  running laptop that sat on the coffee table.  Chase flicked  on the lights and before Jack's eyes had had time to give the room a full sweep reached out to stop his boss from stepping further into the room

“She’s fallen asleep on the couch” Chase whispered. “Stay here, I’ll wake her up.”

Jack watched him tiptoe over to the couch where several long strands of blonde hair that showed from under a blanket gave away the presence of a woman.

Chase bent down to her, and momentarily having forgotten about the smears of camouflage paint that covered his face extended his hand to gently shake her shoulder.
“Chlo, hey, wake up.”

Jack saw her stir slightly, then turn slowly and blink into the light. When her eyes fell upon Chase’s face hovering over her in the now half lit room, inches away from hers, she let out a little terriified scream and shot up from the couch, stumbling backwards into the direction of where Jack stood. Without even thinking about it he reached out to prevent her from falling, causing her to spin around in horror, her blue eyes wild with fear. Silently he cursed himself for his imprudence, having only managed to add to her shock. But before he could open his mouth he heard Chase move towards them and said: 
“It’s alright, Chloe, it’s me, Chase."

Her eyes still fixed on him, Jack saw the words sink in, saw her relax slightly at the recognition of the familiar voice behind her. Slowly she turned around. When she saw Chase standing there the tension came off her and she started to shake violently.

“Dammit Chase” she cursed, her petite figure trembling from head to toe. “What the hell were you thinking?!” She buried her face in her hands for a moment, taking a deep breath. Chase moved towards her and tried to take her into his arms but she shook him off, stepping a step backwards. “Don’t touch me. You look as if you’ve just dragged yourself out of a mud-wrestling match.”

“I’m sorry, Chloe, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Sorry to tell that you did. You almost gave me a heart attack. But good to know you actually tried not to.” She huffed angrily and after tucking some strands of her tousled hair behind her ears crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“What are you even doing here? At... what? Two o'clock?”

“Four in the morning” he corrected  her automatically and before he could explain the reasons for their nightly irruption she went on:

“Great. So you storm in here in the middle of the night to scare the shit out of me and then have me parade around the living room in my pyjamas in front of…” she gestured in the direction of Jack “random dirty army guy over there? If you think it's funny: It isn't! But whatever, I’m going back to sleep.”

And she turned to leave the room. Jack who had watched her rant with growing amusement which he was careful not to let show stepped into her way. She glared at him, still furious.

“What? You want to stop me from getting back to sleep? Maybe I’m under arrest now, too?” Jack couldn’t prevent himself from smiling. “Of course not. Sorry for disturbing you, Miss O’Brian, but actually we’re here to ask for your help.”

For a second she seemed taken aback by the intensity of his gaze, then she took a little step backwards, defensively crossing her arms in front of her chest once more.

“And you are?” she demanded, her eyes narrowed.

“Jack Bauer” he extended his hand towards her.

Her head spun around to Chase who just nodded tiredly. “Meet my boss, Chloe.”

Turning back towards him and reaching out to shake his hand she scanned his features thoroughly. “Chloe O’Brian.” The grip of her hand was firm, Jack noticed, at the same time surprised about how small her hand was. Hesitatingly she looked from one man back to the other, wrapping her arms around herself in a protective gesture.

“What is this about, Chase? Are you in trouble?”

“No, we’re fine. But we have retrieved a chip from a suspect which possibly contains sensitive information connected and it's crucial our mission tonight that we access it without further delay.”

“I was under the impression you guys employed IT specialists as well?” she asked, her sarcasm back in place.

Chase sighed. “There are certain circumstances preveting us from utilizing their services, I can't get into this. Please, Chlo, we really need your help.”

Hesitantly her eyes drifted back to Jack, still unsure about how to relate to his presence that dominated the situation without that he’d needed to say much; not sure if his professional demeanour freaked her out or actually calmed her. His eyes hadn’t left hers for a second, she had noticed, although she wasn’t wearing more than a tank top and shorts.

“You’d be a tremendous help, Miss O’Brian” Jack said  calmly, steadily meeting her gaze.

Chloe nodded slowly, then sighed and made her way over to the coffee table to where her laptop sat. After pressing a few keys she turned back to Jack and said: “Let me see the chip”, having assumed correctly that he wouldn’t let it out of sight. He reached into his pocket and handed it over too her. She studied it carefully for a moment then sat down, wrapping the blanket around her as she did so. “Let’s see what we can get off it then. You’ll have to promise that you’re not going to shoot me for having seen the information though” she added, turning back towards him.

He smiled at her. “I’ll give you my word, Miss O’Brian.”

“Can I rely on that, Chase?”

He smiled as well. “Definitely.”

“Alright. Can I get a cup of coffee?” she stifled a yawn. “You guys didn’t exactly care about sticking to the office ours.”

Chase nodded, relieved that she’d agreed to help them without further ado. “I’ll get you a cup. You want one, too, Jack?”

Jack nodded absent-mindedly, watching Chloe as she connected the chip to her software. She typed away at her keyboard, her fingers dancing over the keys as if they’d never done anything else.

“I’d offer you a seat, Mr. Bauer" she said over her shoulder, "but actually I’d prefer it if you stood, regarding the state of your clothing.”

He felt another smile creep onto his face as he replied: “I’m fine, Miss O’Brian, thanks. I really appreciate you’re help.”

“Yeah well, wait if we can find anything, the chip didn’t look too well, the data might be lost” she brushed him off,  furrowing her brow in concentration.

Chase returned, handing both of them a cup of steaming coffee.

“Did you get anything off it?” he asked, glancing over her shoulder as well and taking a sip from his own cup.

She rolled her eyes. “I might be good, Chase, but if I was that good I wouldn’t sit here in this stupid city without a proper job. Give me some more minutes. Give your boss a tour around the house or whatever but I’ll need you to be quiet.”

Twenty minutes later she leaned back on the couch, and smiling at both of them she got up, stifling another yawn. “There you go. That’s everything that’s left. Hope that’s what you were looking for. Good night.” And she turned to climb the stairs to the second floor.

“Miss O’Brian” Jack called after her and she turned towards him once more.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to talk to anyone about this" she said.

“Thank you.”

A smile tugged at her lips when she replied: “You’re welcome. But next time I’d appreciate if you’d call before storming the house.”

He gave her a genuine smile. “Good night, Miss O’Brian.”

“Call me Chloe. Good night. Night Chase.”

“Night, Chlo, sleep tight.”

And nodding at Jack she disappeared. Jack looked after her, momentarily lost in his thoughts. A small smile still playing around his lips he turned back to Chase who was absorbed in  analysing the data  Chloe's laptop displayed. Without  looking up he muttered:

“Good you were here. She’d probably have ripped my head off. Guess, I’ll have to do the dishes for month to compensate for tonight."

Indicating an adress on the screen he added, straightening his back: "Looks as if you were right about the location."

Jack cast a quick glance at the screen before reaching for his phone.

“Let's go. I’m calling Tony.”

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