geeky_agent (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
geeky_agent) wrote2007-05-13 02:40 am
geeky_agent) wrote2007-05-13 02:40 am
OOM: Sky of memory and shadow
July, 15, 2012
4:32pm
"Our intel on Hassan was wrong. He's wasn't in the building," Milo tells her as walks past to his station.
Chris glances up from her screen, narrowing her eyes. "What? Who was there?"
"Don't know," he says with a shrug, not looking at her, only at his computer. "The field teams just pulled up to the location in Valencia. If you have that new security packet, send it over to my screen."
"Yeah, all right," is the murmured reply. A few taps and it's done. Looking up over her screen, Chris has a clear into the conference room where Nadia and Bill are talking. From this distance, she can't hear anything and from their body language, it's hard to say what's happening. Chris focuses on her screen, frowning as she waits for the satellite to update with new images for their site in Valencia. Finally, it updates to the teams approaching the building but she knows this isn't real time, the lag is usually about 30 seconds.
After a week of consecutive attacks, there'd been nothing. Palmer's assassination didn't appear to be connected and even though they had leads on the groups involved, they hadn't made any headway. There was no reason for this calm, even if everyone wanted to believe it was over now.
The satellite images were updated, now she was looking at the empty CTU cars outside the building, the teams already inside.
Caiti had been too quiet these past few days. It was like before, after their father -- died, when she didn't talk and moved around the house like a ghost. Unlike last time, though, she was anxious to get back to her normal routine, wanting to go back home to DC as soon as possible. This time it was Chris who didn't want to let go.
She blinked at her screen, wondering if the lag was longer than usual or if --
It went blank. No image. From the mumblings around her, she wasn't the only one having problems.
"Is the network down?" Chris asks Milo and he just shakes his head in confusion.
Standing up from her desk, she walks over to the conference room where Nadia and Bill are standing silently, their backs turned to her. "Hey, I think there's a problem..."
The rest of the sentence is forgotten as she looks at the mushroom cloud filling the screen. She notices the words 'Valencia, California' at the bottom but refuses to believe them or the image. "What is that? Where is it from? When is it from?"
Nadia turns around, looking at her with shock and before she can answer Chris is heading back towards her station. She looks at the television screens in the bullpen, all turned to FoxNews, all showing the same image of a mushroom cloud, all saying the same thing. Forcing herself to move forward, she collapses clumsily into her chair, banging her elbow. Before she can even think about it, Chris is picking up the phone and dialing the numbers to her apartment.
"We're sorry, all circuits are busy right now. Please hang up and try again."
So she does. Twice more to the apartment, once more to Caiti's cell phone and always getting the same response. Slamming the phone down, she hears Milo's voice and she realizes he's probably talking to her but she keeps moving, out of her seat and she's not even sure where she's going to go. The only thing that keeps her from heading out that door and trying to get to Valencia is Milo telling her that someone is on the phone for her.
Turning back, she grabs the phone from him, "Caiti?"
4:32pm
"Our intel on Hassan was wrong. He's wasn't in the building," Milo tells her as walks past to his station.
Chris glances up from her screen, narrowing her eyes. "What? Who was there?"
"Don't know," he says with a shrug, not looking at her, only at his computer. "The field teams just pulled up to the location in Valencia. If you have that new security packet, send it over to my screen."
"Yeah, all right," is the murmured reply. A few taps and it's done. Looking up over her screen, Chris has a clear into the conference room where Nadia and Bill are talking. From this distance, she can't hear anything and from their body language, it's hard to say what's happening. Chris focuses on her screen, frowning as she waits for the satellite to update with new images for their site in Valencia. Finally, it updates to the teams approaching the building but she knows this isn't real time, the lag is usually about 30 seconds.
After a week of consecutive attacks, there'd been nothing. Palmer's assassination didn't appear to be connected and even though they had leads on the groups involved, they hadn't made any headway. There was no reason for this calm, even if everyone wanted to believe it was over now.
The satellite images were updated, now she was looking at the empty CTU cars outside the building, the teams already inside.
Caiti had been too quiet these past few days. It was like before, after their father -- died, when she didn't talk and moved around the house like a ghost. Unlike last time, though, she was anxious to get back to her normal routine, wanting to go back home to DC as soon as possible. This time it was Chris who didn't want to let go.
She blinked at her screen, wondering if the lag was longer than usual or if --
It went blank. No image. From the mumblings around her, she wasn't the only one having problems.
"Is the network down?" Chris asks Milo and he just shakes his head in confusion.
Standing up from her desk, she walks over to the conference room where Nadia and Bill are standing silently, their backs turned to her. "Hey, I think there's a problem..."
The rest of the sentence is forgotten as she looks at the mushroom cloud filling the screen. She notices the words 'Valencia, California' at the bottom but refuses to believe them or the image. "What is that? Where is it from? When is it from?"
Nadia turns around, looking at her with shock and before she can answer Chris is heading back towards her station. She looks at the television screens in the bullpen, all turned to FoxNews, all showing the same image of a mushroom cloud, all saying the same thing. Forcing herself to move forward, she collapses clumsily into her chair, banging her elbow. Before she can even think about it, Chris is picking up the phone and dialing the numbers to her apartment.
"We're sorry, all circuits are busy right now. Please hang up and try again."
So she does. Twice more to the apartment, once more to Caiti's cell phone and always getting the same response. Slamming the phone down, she hears Milo's voice and she realizes he's probably talking to her but she keeps moving, out of her seat and she's not even sure where she's going to go. The only thing that keeps her from heading out that door and trying to get to Valencia is Milo telling her that someone is on the phone for her.
Turning back, she grabs the phone from him, "Caiti?"
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At first he can't stop looking back over at it, as though there's some doubt in his mind that it actually is what he thinks it is. But every time he looks, it's still there, like a nightmare he can't wake up from.
They're getting stuck in traffic as people panic, throwing what they have in their cars and trying to flee. Jack digs his cellphone out of his pocket, dialling CTU, a tinny, computer-automated voice telling him what he knows he should have expected: the system is busy, overloaded with calls. He knows CTU is likely even busier than most offices at the moment, that they'll be calling out to HAZMAT, law enforcement, rescue teams, FEMA, DoD, Homeland Security...
It doesn't keep him from hitting the redial button, over and over again. He needs to know where the bomb went off--though part of him already does of course--needs to know if Chris has heard from Caiti. Needs to just hear her voice, and let her know that he's okay, that they're on their way back.
"Son of a bitch," he mutters, pulling the phone from his ear again, hitting redial one more time. This time, finally, the phone rings, and he breathes a small sigh of relief even as he hears Chris greet him with her sister's name, hears the desperation in her voice.
"No, it's Jack. You haven't heard from her?" he asks, his relief fading, his stomach sinking.
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