geeky_agent | (no subject)

July 10, 2012
9:12 AM

After driving around, Chris and Jack found a drugstore nearby that was open. Armed with a short list of supplies, she went in while Jack stayed behind with their attacker.

The store itself was brightly lit and nearly empty, only a few employees inside. It didn't take long for Chris to find everything they needed, the large bottle of extra-strength aspirin being the most important item in their makeshift first-aid kit. Hurrying up to the front of the store, she was anxious to get out of here. It's not until she reached the front of the aisle that she notices the cop standing at the checkout desk, chatting with the clerk.

At least, Chris hopes it's just idle chatter. Ducking back into the aisle, she pretends to be checking out the various kinds of snack bars, even throwing a few into her basket. When she hears the doors of the store open, she peeks around again and watches the cop leave.

It's not until he's completely out of the store that she moves forward, walking up to the check-out desk and unloading her basket. Remembering that she might have a large bruise on her forehead, Chris is careful to keep her head down, pretending to be interested in the magazines nearby.

Once she's out of the store, Chris lets out a sigh of relief and hurries towards the van.

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"Didn't say," she admits with a sigh. "I told them we would need a medevac so let's hope it won't be long."

Giving him a worried look, Chris asks, "How's your shoulder?"

He gives her a small smile to reassure her, glancing up at her before returning his attention to the hostile. He's pale, breathing rapidly and looks only semi-conscious, but still alive. If they didn't need him to provide information on who had hired him for the hit, Jack isn't sure he'd care if the man died.

"Hurts a bit, but I've had worse. How's your head?" he asks, glancing up at her again.

"Better. Once the asprin kicked in," she says, a slight smile on her lips. "Wouldn't mind going home and taking a nap."

Jack lets out a tired, dark kind of laugh; the adrenaline rush is starting to wear off, and the events of the day are starting to hit him, now that they're just waiting for CTU to pick them up. "Yeah. Buchanan's probably going to want to debrief us, though." Not to mention CTU would have a lot to do with their captive to find out who hired him. They still need to find out why someone wanted Palmer dead.

He still needs to find out who's responsible, he realizes. Somehow he feels he owes Palmer that much. There's only one way he's going to be able to do that, though; or at least do it and be effective.

"I know." She knew it was going to be a long day and, truth be told, if they told her she could go home she'd probably refuse. There was too much to still do and Chris didn't think she'd be able to rest while everyone else was trying to find Palmer's killer.

"At least it'll just be a debriefing," he says. That'd be easier to take than an interrogation. "And at least this part is over."

"Yeah," is the last thing she says for a while. Chris leans against the car, her feet are sore and she's thirsty. A small scowl comes over her face as she remembers that her water bottle, along with the granola bars and her pumps, blew up with the van.

At least there was some shade where they were standing.

"Do you want me to do that so you can rest a bit?"

Jack shakes his head. his knees are getting sore, but he's already got blood on his hands and shirt already, and he's wearing jeans; he's better-dressed for kneeling in the dirt and tending to someone that's bleeding than she is, even if her dress is already dirt-streaked. Besides, it's only a few minutes more before they hear the sound of helicopter rotors; the cavalry has arrived.

It takes a couple minutes for the chopper to find a place to land, but as soon as it does, a medical team runs over to them, getting the hostile into the chopper quickly. As they load the hostile into the chopper, the field team arrives in a caravan of identical black SUVs, Jack and Chris bundled into the lead car as the chopper takes off. One of the agents passes Jack a few sanitary wipes to clean off his hands, as another slaps a couple butterfly bandages and a gauze pad on his shoulder. Once the blood is gone from his hands, he takes Chris' hand in his, squeezing it gently.

The occupants of the SUV are mostly silent, as the convoy heads back out onto the road, heading south toward downtown L.A. and CTU headquarters.