Fighting For Salvation (6)

And I present to you....Chapter 6!! By the way, there is offensive language in this chapter. I had to introduce an unsavory charactor. This author does not hold or agree with any of that character's opinions.

            Ava scrambled down the embankment, almost tumbling head over heels a few times. When she reached the bottom, she had to force herself to keep moving toward Nina's motionless body. She knelt beside her, hesitating slightly as she reached out a hand to feel for a pulse. Just as her fingers rested on the other woman's neck, Nina let out a shuddering gasp and started to move. Ava let out a little shriek as she threw herself backwards, landing on her butt.

            "He shot me," Nina muttered as she sat up, staring down at what Ava now recognized as a flak jacket.

            "Thank God you're alive," the younger woman breathed.

            Nina looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I never expected to hear that coming from you."

            "Don't get used to it. I'm sure I'll be feeling the opposite any minute now."

            "What are you doing here?"

            "I thought Jack was acting funny. I saw him switch the key cards. So when you two hurried out of CTU, I decided to follow."

            "Your nosey-ness finally paid off."

            "Keep it up and I'll make you walk back."

 

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            "I still can't believe Jack shot me," Nina muttered as they drove back to CTU.

            "Really?"

            "You can shut up anytime, you know."

            "Geez. Getting shot by an ex-lover really makes you cranky."

            "At least I have an ex-lover."

            Ava frowned. "And that somehow makes you a better person?"

            "Proves that guys at least find me attractive."

            "Ah, yes. You have Tony wrapped firmly around your little finger by playing on his jealousies and insecurities. Kudos to you."

            Nina turned to look at her.

            "Does it bother you?"

            Ava sighed. "Does what bother me?"

            "That every single man in your life has a woman higher on his priority list than you? I mean, Jack has Teri and Kim. Tony has me. Your father has whatever bimbo he's picked up this week…"

            "Leave my father out of this."

            "Please, Ava. He's a drunken wife-beater with the intellectual qualities of pond scum."

            "I see you've been reading files that are none of your business."

            "I like to know who I'm working with."

            "You're a bitch."

            "By the way, have you heard from Daddy lately? Or are you still disowned?"

            "I happen to like being disowned."

            "Do you ever wonder how any man can ever love you if your own father wants nothing to do with you?"

            "Do you ever wonder if karma is going to bite you in the ass someday?"

            "My, my. Now who's cranky?" She faced the road again, pulling out her cell phone.

            "Who are you calling?"

            "Jamey. Things just got a hell of lot more complicated." The phone rang as she held it against her ear.

            "Almeida."

            "Tony?"

            "Nina? Where are you?"

            "On my way back to CTU with Ava."

            "What happened?"

            "I can't tell you right now. Is Jamey there? I really need to speak with her."

            "Nina-"

            "Tony, not now. I need to talk to Jamey."

            "Fine."

            Tony pulled the phone away from his ear and turned to call for Jamey. He stopped when he overheard her talking to Milo.

            "Where's Nina?" Milo asked.

            "She had some meeting to go to," Jamey shrugged.

            "Are you sure?"

            "Yeah, I'm sure. I just got off the phone with her."

            Tony frowned in confusion until Nina's voice yelling through the phone finally got his attention again.

            "Tony? Did Jamey just say she talked to me?"

            "Yeah. Did she?"

            "No." Nina paused, her eyes widening. She turned to Ava even as she spoke to Tony. "It's Jamey. She's the mole."

 

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            Tony was waiting at the door for them when they came in. He immediately embraced Nina, giving her a quick kiss on the lips. Ava stuffed her hands into her pockets and bit back any sarcastic remark as she focused her eyes on the floor. She could feel Nina's victorious smirk aimed at her, but she refused to rise to the bait.

            "So what exactly is going on?" he asked when they had pulled away again.

            "Not here," Ava muttered.

            She led them both to an empty holding room. Walking over to a corner, she leaned against it, her hands once again in her pockets. Tony stared at her expectantly.

            "Well?"
            "Nina can explain."

            He gave her a look, confused by her strange behavior, but Nina pulled his attention back to her.

            "Early this morning, Richard Walsh explained to Jack that there was a mole in CTU and that the only person he could trust was Jamey. He passed him a keycard that had been filled with information from our network. They traced it back to my computer, and Jack thought that I was the mole. But I was cleared."

            "So why couldn't you tell me this earlier instead of all the sneaking around?"

            "We couldn't be sure you weren't the leak," Ava murmured from the corner, her eyes fixed her shoes.

            "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

            "Tony, we weren't supposed to tell anyone," Nina interjected. "Jack trusted Ava, so he told her. You and he…don't exactly get along. It was easy for him not to trust you."

            "Not to mention I'm dating the woman he used to sleep with."

            "Tony…"

            "Fine. So what happened when you and Jack ran out of here so fast?"

            Nina raised her eyes to Ava. "You said you noticed he was acting strange earlier?"

            Ava nodded. "Ever since he got back from the hospital. Teri said he got a call from you, but you never called him. And then he left suddenly. I saw him switch out the keycards and give Milo a fake."

            Tony put his hands on his hips. "Then Jack's-"

            "No. He's not the mole."

            "He was trying to tell me something," Nina explained. "Up in his office. But it was like…like he was being watched. When he pulled a gun on me, he put a flak jacket on me, too. He instructed me to drive somewhere, and we were followed by some guys with a video camera. They were there to make sure he killed me."

            "He shot you?" Tony exclaimed.

            "Someone's controlling him," Ava said quietly. "And I'm guessing whoever it is has Kim and Teri."

            "And if they're having him switch out the keycard and distract us, that can only mean that they're the same people who want Palmer dead," Tony finished.

            "Do we have Palmer's schedule?" Nina asked.

            "Yeah. He has a speech at the power plant this morning."

            "When?"

            "Eight o'clock."

            "Someone needs to go and stop Jack from whatever he's being ordered to do."

            "I'll call Secret Service. Tell them that Jack may pose a threat to the senator."

            "I'll go," Ava volunteered, pushing away from the wall and moving toward the door.

            "Are you sure?" Tony asked.

            She shrugged. "You two have work to do here. I'm useless with computers. There's usually violence where Jack is involved, and that seems to be my forte. I have my cell." Without another word, she left the room.

            "What's the matter with her?" Tony asked, staring after her, worry in his eyes.

            Nina shrugged. "We had a talk in the car about her little crush on Jack. I told her he was a married man and she needs to move on."

            "She has a thing for Jack?"

            "Isn't it obvious?"

            Tony shook his head. "I thought better of her, that's all."

 

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            Tony stood outside the door to the woman's bathroom, where Jamey had disappeared seconds earlier. Nina was watching the room through the camera system, waiting for their colleague to contact whoever she was leaking information to. While he waited for the go-ahead, he thought back to Ava's peculiar behavior. Something had been bothering her ever since she got that call on her personal cell phone, and her mood only seemed to worsen every time she interacted with Nina. Tony knew the two women hated each other, but he found himself wondering if he could believe everything that Nina said. If he was honest with himself, he could admit that he wanted to like Ava. She was a strong person, someone who stood up for what she believed in no matter what other people thought of her. And she had tried on more than one occasion to befriend him. But Nina had badmouthed her from the start, and he hadn't liked how close she was with Jack, so he had been guided by her opinion. He wondered suddenly if he had made a huge mistake.

            Nina's voice interrupted his thoughts and he moved in to apprehend Jamey.

 

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            "I'm sorry, Ms. Connelly. But you're not on the list."

            "I realize that. And it's Agent Connolly, Agent Pierce."

            "We can't let you in."

            "But I need to. Palmer is in danger."

            "If you have information of a threat…"

            "You should let me in so I can deal with it."

            Pierce held up his hand as a voice squawked over his earpiece. He listened intently and then gave Ava a resigned look.

            "Agent Connolly you are cleared to enter."

            "Tony took his sweet time calling, I see."

            "CTU has informed us that Agent Bauer might be a threat. I have my men looking for him."

            "Just don't hurt him too much, okay? He's having a rough day."

            "Excuse me?"

            "Nevermind. Just catch him and then let me deal with him."

            "If he makes any attempt to harm Senator Palmer, he's ours."

            "And if you make any attempt to get in my way, you and I will have words."

            Pierce gave her a hard look. "You're a difficult person to deal with."

            "Makes me a more formidable foe," she said with a smile as she passed him and moved into the crowd.

            Her smile faded as she moved through the sea of people. Finding Jack in this throng wasn't going to be easy, and she had no idea what she was going to do when she caught up with him. If somebody was using Teri and Kim to make him do things…he would do anything to protect his family.

            Ava sighed and continued to look for him.

 

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            The interview was not going well. Jamey had admitted to passing on information, but she refused to tell them any more until she got a lawyer. Tony was getting more frustrated by the minute, and he eventually walked out, leaving Nina to carry on for a little while without him.

            He moved back out onto the floor, pacing between the stations. They needed to figure out who Jamey was working for. They needed to find Jack. They needed to find Teri and Kim. If they could find at least one of those answers, they could move forward, but they were at a standstill until then.

            His thoughts were interrupted as Ava's desk phone rang. Thinking that it could Jack, he moved to the station quickly.

            "Almeida."

            "Ava?"

            "No, this is Tony Almeida."

            "This is supposed to be my daughter's number."

            "It is. She isn't here right now."

            "And who are you?"
            "Tony Almeida. I work with your daughter."

            "Almeida. That's not a white name."

            Tony frowned. "Excuse me?"

            "I'm not surprised. I wouldn't put it past my daughter to work with a bunch of spics and niggers."

            "Mr. Connelly-"

            "That's not my name. My worthless daughter took her mother's maiden name. My name is Harrell."

            "Fine, Mr. Harrell. Your daughter isn't here-"

            "No, I imagine she's out causing trouble."

            "Was there something in particular you needed?"

            "She hung up on me the last time we spoke. I wanted to have words with her about that."

            Things started to click for Tony. "Sir, this is a government agency and your daughter is a government agent. She has work to do and you need to not interrupt."

            "She can't be doing anything important. My daughter isn't terribly useful. She failed all the hopes I had for her-"

            Tony's already-frayed nerves snapped. "Hey! Ava is one of our best agents. She's resourceful, she's kind, and she always gets the job done. I'm thinking the only failure here is you."

            There was an unsteady chuckle on the other end. "I've heard that tone before. You have a thing for her, don't you?"

            "Sir-"

            "Leave it to my daughter to have a spic boyfriend. She never did understand how the world works."

            "Sir-"

            "You just tell her that I called and I expect her to get back to me. A daughter doesn't just hang up on her father. She needs to learn her place."

            The line went dead, and Tony stared at the phone in disbelief. He now understood Ava's earlier bad mood. He couldn't imagine what it was like to have someone harassing you like that constantly. Hanging up the receiver, he vowed to talk to her about it later.

            "Tony?"

            He turned around to see Nina standing behind him.

            "Who were you talking to?"

            He shook his head. "Nobody. Let's go back to Jamey."

 

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            Ava really hated being surrounded by so many people. Jack wasn't a very tall man, and she was having trouble finding him in the power plant. She had moved most of the way across the floor now, and she was starting to lose hope that she would be able to find him.

            People around her stirred, and she turned to see Senator Palmer taking his place behind the podium. It was time for his speech, and she knew that time was running out. Now was a perfect time for the assassin to make his move.

            A commotion erupted suddenly, and Ava watched in confusion as Secret Service agents pulled Palmer away from the podium and off the stage, using their bodies as shields. She looked around, trying to find what had caused them to take him away. There was nothing threatening on the floor around her, so she lifted her eyes to the second level.

            She watched in resignation as agents wrestled Jack to the ground. He had been the cause of the disturbance. Ava didn't know whether to be happy that they found him or frustrated that he was once again in trouble. She watched the agents restrain him and drag him off somewhere, presumably to question him and put him formally under arrest.

            Ava sighed as she moved toward the stairs. She was really getting sick of saving his ass.