Woohoo! Chapter 4 is finally finished! LJ won't let me post it in one entry, so this is part one of chapter 4. Big thanks to
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rorylie,
sej_1986,
ktswaz,
sparky_girl82and
glorylinnemannfor the copious amounts of nagging without which this would never have been written.
"Shit," Ava cursed when they reached the parking lot.
Jack glanced over at her. "What?"
Ava sighed, stopping and forcing Jack to do the same. "I don't have a car anymore. And I'm pretty sure that's your fault."
"My fault?"
"Every time you enlist my help, my car gets destroyed."
"You can't use your car at all?"
"It's a burning piece of twisted metal at the moment. So I'm gonna go with 'no.'" She shrugged. "I guess I could just use a CTU vehicle."
Jack paused, thinking. "No. You can come with me."
"What about Kim?"
"Do you have any idea where to start looking again?"
"No."
"Then I could use your help. Come on."
***
When they pulled up to the address, Ava and Jack found themselves staring at a large dilapidated warehouse. Dumpsters were lined up outside, and shadows were everywhere, easily able to conceal an ambush. Ava swept her eyes over the scene, suddenly wondering if Jack had a plan. Before she could ask, he was already opening his door. Rolling her eyes, she got out as well, meeting him in front of the car.
"You go up to the roof of that building," Jack said, pointing to the neighboring warehouse and pulling out his gun. "I'll go into the warehouse. If there's anyone inside, we'll drive them back out here, okay?"
Ava nodded, moving toward the warehouse. Jack's voice stopped her.
"If there's anyone in there, I want them alive, Ava."
She smirked at him. "Come on, Jack. I almost never shoot to kill." And with that, she disappeared into the shadows.
***
It didn't take long for Ava to find a ladder that led up to the roof of the building next door. She glared up at it as it's bottom rung rested about four or five feet above her head. Her ribs groaned at the very thought of jumping up, but she knew that she didn't have time to search for another ladder that might not even exist. Taking a deep breath, she backed up a few steps and ran at the wall. Kicking off the aluminum wall, she reached up and grabbed one of the rungs. She bit her lip to keep from crying out as her torso slammed into the ladder, her bruises screaming at her. Hanging there, she caught her breath, willing her body to ignore the pain. Then she reached one hand to take the next rung up, slowly pulling her body up until her feet could rest on the ladder. The hard part over, she scrambled the rest of the way to the top.
The roof gave her a good view of their location. Crouching lower, she pulled her gun and ran forward, sweeping her gaze left and right. From her position, she could see into the windows of the other building, and she looked in each one, trying to catch sight of anyone that might be inside.
Shots rang out from somewhere ahead of her, and Ava quickened her pace, gun held out before her. She caught sight of a man racing through the warehouse, and she aimed at the windows. Bullets ripped through the glass, shattering them on impact and forcing the person to change direction abruptly. He burst through a door to her right, making a run for the car that they had left parked in the alley. Ava aimed again, this time sending bullets to dance around his feet. He jumped, quickly diving back towards the building. Jack was out two seconds later, closing in on the guy and yelling at him to put down his weapon.
It was then that a police cruiser pulled into the alley, drawn by the sound of gunfire. A policewoman stepped out of the car, her weapon drawn. She yelled for Jack to put his hands above his head and to drop his weapon. The other man watched for a moment, then used the distraction to race back into the warehouse. As she listened to Jack explain who he was to the woman, Ava crouched lower and moved back along the roof, hoping to catch another glimpse of the guy.
She let off another shot, grinning when she heard his frustrated curse. But then he took an unexpected turn and veered out of the building again, weaving in and out of the dumpsters that they had seen when they first pulled up. Ava looked desperately for a clear shot, but the roof she was on was at the wrong angle. Muttering under her breath, she raced back to the other side of the building, toward the ladder she had used to climb up.
She was halfway down when she heard the single gunshot ring out, followed by silence. Fear gripping her heart, she jumped the rest of the way down, ignoring the groan of protest from her ankles. She ran around toward the dumpsters, her gun drawn and her jaw set.
When she rounded the corner, she nearly sobbed in relief at the sight of a very alive Jack. But then her eyes took in the rest of the scene. The policewoman that had tried to stop Jack initially was lying on the ground, blood pooling around her neck. The man they had been chasing was handcuffed and being held against one of the dumpsters. Cops were everywhere, the tension and pain at losing one of their own palpable. She moved to Jack's side as they began to move the man toward one of the cruisers.
"Who is he?" Ava asked quietly.
Jack shook his head. "His name is Penticoff. I have no idea how he's involved in all of this."
"Hey Bauer!" Both their heads snapped up as Penticoff yelled over his shoulder. "If you ever want to see your daughter again, get me out of here!"
Jack's eyes widened in shock, but he recovered quickly. Grabbing her arm, he dragged Ava back towards their car.
***
As they followed the police cruisers to the station, Jack quickly dialed Nina's number. Ava listened as he asked her for any help in getting in to see the prisoner, and she could faintly hear Nina putting up some weak arguments as to why she shouldn’t do it. Unable to stop herself, Ava rolled her eyes and turned to look out her window. She hated how much Jack depended on the other woman. There was something about her that just didn't sit right, and Ava didn't trust her any farther than she could throw her. In fact, she probably trusted her less than that, since she was certain she could chuck the bitch pretty far. She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of Jack snapping his phone shut.
"I guess this means I have to be nice to her again?" she asked.
"Who?"
"Nina."
Jack looked at her carefully. "You really don't like her, do you?"
Ava shook her head. "I know she's your friend, Jack. But she's a bitch."
"What did she say to you earlier?"
"It doesn't matter."
"It does to me."
"Leave it."
For a moment he respected her wishes. He stared out at the road in front of them, knuckles gripping at the steering wheel as his mind raced from everything that had happened thus far. But with everything else out of control, he just couldn't let this go.
"Was it about Tony?"
"I thought I asked you to drop it."
"Was it?"
She sighed. "Yes."
"Ignore her. She knows they don't fit and it pisses her off. She sees how much Tony likes you. She's jealous."
"Tony hates me."
"I wish you'd stop saying that."
"It's true, Jack. You've heard the way he talks to me."
"You confuse him."
"Yeah, well. He does his fair share of confusing too."
"There's something else."
Ava finally pulled her eyes away from her window to look at him, her brow furrowed. "Huh?"
"Bothering you. There's something else bothering you."
She shrugged. "My dad called."
Jack closed his eyes briefly before reaching out and squeezing her hand. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.
"Yeah, well." She took a deep breath as she ran out of things to say.
The rest of the ride was silent.
***
"Why do you do that?" Tony asked as soon as she had hung up the phone.
"Do what?"
"Help him."
Nina sighed. "He's our boss, Tony. Believe it or not he's trying to do what's right."
"Yeah, but he thinks he can always do it his way."
"This jealous thing isn't cute, you know."
Tony flushed a little as he tried to focus on the papers in front of him. "It's not cute coming from you either," he retorted.
"Excuse me?" she asked.
"I've seen how you act around Ava. Any time I even speak to her you're jumping down her throat or bad-mouthing her behind her back."
Nina crossed her arms defensively. "Have you forgotten that the little bitch decked me just a little while ago?"
He shook his head. "No, I haven't forgotten. But I also know that you had to say something pretty nasty to get her riled up." Looking at her for a moment more, Tony turned on his heel and walked off the floor.
***
"So…do you have a plan?" Ava asked as Jack practically stormed into the police station.
"You keep asking that," he growled.
"That's because I keep hoping you've grown a brain since the last time. You don't have a plan, do you?"
"Actually, I do. I'm going to go talk to the person in charge and get in to see Penticoff."
"And then what? Break him out?"
"If I have to," he muttered.
"Do you have any idea how you're going to break him out?"
"I'll figure it out."
"See? This is what I'm talking about. This 'I'll figure it out' crap just isn't working. Let's trying planning instead of winging."
"Don't worry. I'll handle it."
Ava sighed. "Fine." She glanced into the break room as they walked by. "Do you need my help for this part?"
Jack raised an eyebrow at her. "Not really. Why?"
"There are doughnuts."
"So?"
"So I'm hungry. I'm not Superman like you, Jack. I need to eat."
"Fine. You go eat. I'll get Penticoff. Do you want me to pick you up on the way out?"
"That would be nice," she beamed at him.
Jack rolled his eyes and kept walking as Ava steered herself back toward the break room.
***
By the time Ava came back out of the break room, she was happily munching on her third chocolate-frosted doughnut. She frowned as she realized that Jack still had not come to get her. She wandered down the hall, finishing her doughnut and wiping her hands on her jeans. When she found a promising door, she knocked before opening it and poking her head into the room. An older man with a grey moustache sat behind a plan metal desk. He raised his eyes to hers when he heard the door open – he looked as though he'd been dragged through a keyhole.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"Jack Bauer?"
"Guy named Mason showed up and pulled him into an interrogation room." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Who are you?"
"Thanks," Ava said, ignoring his question and pulling herself back out into the hall.
She walked slowly, trying to sort things out in her head. Mason really didn't like Jack's methods – which meant that he probably wasn't going to let him anywhere near Penticoff. And Penticoff's comment about Kim meant that the hit on Palmer and her disappearance were connected. Ava knew that Jack would do whatever was necessary to rescue his daughter, and at the moment it seemed as though his only option was to break Penticoff out.
Up ahead, she spotted an officer walking toward her. He was relatively young, and he had an appreciative grin on his face as he looked her up and down. Thanking God for the unexpected opportunity, Ava looked down at her feet as she continued walking toward him. Through her lowered eye lashes, she saw him move a little closer to the center of the hall, making it almost impossible for her to get around him without speaking or running into him.
As they finally moved to pass each other, Ava let her left shoulder slam into his, causing both of them to stumble slightly. She reached out a hand to steady his shoulder, giving him a nervous smile.
"Oh! Sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going! Wrapped in my own world again," she laughed.
"Not a problem," he murmured, beaming at her as he let his hand linger on her waist just a little too long.
Ava fidgeted. "Well, I gotta go this way and…you're going that way, so…bye."
"Bye."
She could feel his eyes on her ass as she walked away, and she resisted the urge to back and kick his face in. Stuffing her hands into her pockets, she smiled as her fingers brushed against the key card.
