24 Hours
TITLE: 24 Hours
AUTHOR: Sk8er4life
EMAIL/FEEDBACK: Sk8er4life313@yahoo.com
RATING: PG
GENRE: story
RELATIONSHIPS: Character/Character Friendship
KEYWORDS: Separate story
SUMMARY: When the CIA gets Intel that was given to Sloane from Sark about a bomb going off they have 24 hours to stop it from occurring, but they don't know when it will go off. Will gets a disturbing call. The following takes place from 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
It was a winter morning in Los Angeles. Sydney didn’t have plans today, except helping Francieout at her restaurant. Things had been pretty low lately at SD-6 and at the CIA. Most people would be happy, this lack of news made Sydney even more nervous than she usually was. Something wasn’t right, she couldn’t put her finger on it yet, but she would soon. It was only a matter of time.
Sydney arrived at Francie’s restaurant a little after 10:30. Francie had been there since 8:00 in the morning. Sydney was offering to help out Francie by helping her decorate the restaurant for a Winter Blast that Francie was going to have there that night at 7:00.
Sydney was modeling an off-white turtleneck with tan khakis at the time. She was hoping it wasn’t too casual for right now. She figured she was just doing decorations right now and then she would change later for the party. She didn’t see a huge problem with it.
“It must be nice to have the day off from work,” said Francie.
“I wish I could feel like that,” said Sydney.
“Why what’s the problem?” asked Francie.
“Well I’m just always worried about my position and now that my boss has been very quiet lately I’m just constantly worrying about everything.”
“You really need to relax. Nothing is going to happen, you’re too apprehensive. This party will be good for you.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. I’d feel better though, if I knew for sure that everything was fine. I know it’s probably just me, but I just have a really bad feeling in my gut.”
“You need a nice big swig of wine or something, just to let you loose.”
Sydney smiled, laughing back at Francie’s response, “I’m fine don’t worry.”
“No, you’re to tense, I’m getting you something,” said Francie, “And don’t even try to refuse it, because I won’t let you!”
They both shared a smile and a few laughs before Francie went to get the wine.
* * *
Michael Vaughn had just parked his car as he arrived for work. Like Sydney, he also had a feeling that something hadn’t been right with everything being so quiet lately. This thought hadn’t changed when he got to his workspace either. He checked to see if he got any messages from anybody, but there was nothing. Well, there was one from Sydney, but she just asked if he had heard anything yet that might be of interest to her.
Vaughn went to talk to Kendall to see if they had gotten any news on something that could be conspiring.
“Kendall, have you heard anything yet?” asked Vaughn.
“Actually we have been able to intercept some Intel that was to be going to SD-6. It is from someone we have learned to know very well, Sark,” said Kendall.
“Well what does it say,” asked Vaughn.
Kendall points to his computer screen for Vaughn to look at. There is a small note that says: “They’re loaded and they’ll be ready for tonight at the earliest, but no later than tomorrow morning.”
“What does that mean?” asked Vaughn.
“It means exactly what it says,” said Kendall, “There is something somewhere, mostly bombs, that are going to go off in that time field. Now we have to figure out where they are. Sark and Sloane have obviously been handling this in person, because we should have gotten Intel on it.”
“Yeah,” said Vaughn, “but usually he will tell Jack about his plans. You would think that he would at least tell him. This must be big and it has to be something bad if Sloane didn’t even tell Jack about it.”
“I want you to call Jack. Ask him if Sloane has been acting strange lately in any way. Find out if he has let on to him in any way, possibly of something he was planning to do. This is important and we need to know what it is.”
“Should I contact Sydney and tell her about the problem?”
“I wouldn’t do that yet. Let’s wait until we know what the problem is before we let her know about the problem. She needs the break right now with everything that has been going on lately.”
“She does have a right to know, though. What if she can lead us towards a clue? She should at least be on the lookout in case of anything.”
“We are not going to tell Bristow anything until we are sure!”
“All right then,” said Vaughn.
* * *
Jack Bristow had just gotten up a couple of minutes ago. It was a little after 10:30 now and Jack planned to just go out and do something. He was possibly going to pay the CIA a visit in case they needed anything, or even just to check in with everybody. If all else failed he planned to go Christmas shopping and get something for Sydney. It was a boring day; it was work that had kept him busy.
Not long after Jack had just finished breakfast the phone had rang. He was in the bathroom shaving the little stubble he had. It was Vaughn; he wasn’t wondering what it could be about. Vaughn usually didn’t call on a Saturday morning.
“Can I help you?” asked Jack.
“Yeah, Jack,” said Vaughn, “We have just gotten Intel that was to Sloane from Sark. It says that Sark has something loaded and that they are going to go off anytime from tonight to tomorrow morning.”
“Well have you found out what it is and the exact time yet?”
“No, that’s why I’m calling you. We need to know if Sloane had eluded to this event in any way in the past couple days or even months.”
“No, he hasn’t. He has been keeping me out of some things lately. There is one person you could ask, though. I know you don’t want to, but she could have some information.”
“I guess she has been a good help to us. It’s worth a try. So how are you handling?”
“I’m doing all right. Do you want me to come into the office, I can possibly help out if you need it.”
“Yeah, that would probably be a good idea, we need all the help that we can get right now.”
* * *
Will was heading out to do his community service. He had used to pick the garbage with others, but now with the snow they couldn’t do that anymore. So, he was going to help out at the City Mission and serve food to all the homeless people. It was just quarter to eleven and he had to be there at eleven.
Will was walking down the street. He passed a pay phone when it rang. He stopped and just stared at it. He shouldn’t have picked it up, but the urge was too great, he had to.
Will picked up the phone, “Hello?”
“One o’clock at the corner of Pearl and Sunset, be there,” said a distorted voice.
“What are you talking about?” asked Will, “Who are you?”
There was no answer on the other line, just the dead tone of the phone.
Will hung up the phone and started walking down the street. He had almost died last spring in May, did he really want to chance the fact that the same thing could happen again. What if Sloane was setting him up? No, that wouldn’t happen, Jack would know and would have told him by now. Something wasn’t right about this situation, though.
No matter how much Will wanted to ignore the message, he just couldn’t. Something was telling him that he was meant to get that call and go to the location where the voice told him to go. He would still be able to go to the City Mission and help out for an hour or a little longer, though until he would go. He would just tell them there that he wasn’t feeling well, he was a pretty loyal person, so they would definitely believe it.
* * *
“Does this look all right do you think?” asked Francie. She was hanging up some garland over the windows at the restaurant.
“It looks perfect,” said Sydney, smiling.
“You know this is so exciting,” said Francie, “We’ve been through so many thrills this year, I think there is a lot to celebrate this Christmas.”
“Well this is definitely a big thing,” said Sydney, “but what else were you thinking about?”
“I guess Will is off heroine, so that’s a plus. And you have made amends with your father, who knew that was possible?” said Francie laughing.
Sydney laughed, “I guess you’re right.”
“Well we got to get going if we want to finish by 7:00.”
“All right, let’s get going.”
* * *
Jack was on his way to the CIA. He was at a traffic light waiting to go. Things were going to get bad; he just knew it. While he was waiting, though, he saw Will walking down the street. He figured that he must have been walking to the City Mission. Will had told him about it.
Jack was watching Will and then saw that he stopped at a pay phone and picked it up. He wasn’t on for long, but he looked confused and agitated. He wasn’t sure who had called Will, but he figured that it was tying in with the message Sark had given to Sloane. It had to be, who else would be calling Will?
Once Jack got to the CIA he immediately told Kendall and Vaughn what he had seen while he was at the signal light waiting. Both of them found out very shocking and weren’t quite sure what to expect yet, unlike Jack.
“Is there anyway that we can find out who had called him?” asked Jack.
“We’ll get our men on it and see what we can do,” said Kendall, “but it is a hard task. Do you happen to know exactly where the phone’s location was? That would at least be a start.”
“Yeah, it was on Grant Street,” said Jack.
“First there was nothing going on and now there’s this,” said Vaughn, “What’s next?”
“I don’t know,” said Kendall, “but we have to expect the worse”
TO BE CONTINUED
(11:00 AM – 12:00 PM, COMING SOON)
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