Vanishing Point - Marc Cerasini [7]
The bomb was inside the case, right next to the device he'd stolen. A brick of C4, more than enough to do the job. The handle was the detonator, the timed delay only five seconds — long enough to catch Jack Bauer's eye, gesture a warning.
The boy tucked the case under his arm, scrambled to his feet.
"No, wait!" Jack cried, backing away.
The C4 detonated in a bright orange flash.
* * *
CTU Headquarters, Los Angeles
Three days later
Jack Bauer was surprised by the sheer number of personnel packed into CTU's soundproofed conference room. Christopher Henderson had cobbled together an impressive operation in under thirty-six hours, one of the largest undercover stings Jack had ever joined.
Along with Agents Tony Almeida and Nina Myers, Curtis Manning, a former member of Chet Blackburn's strike team, was also at the table. Manning's quick thinking and initiative during Operation Pinstripe had attracted the attention of Administrative Director Richard Walsh, who immediately moved Curtis over to Field Ops. This would be his first real assignment.
On the communications side, Programmer Jamey Farrell was present, along with the young computer protege, Doris Soo Min. Jack also noticed the shiny bald head of portly Morris O'Brian, CTU's cyber-specialist. He'd recently come over from Langley, just ahead of a sexual harassment suit, according to the sealed portion of his personnel file.
What was amazing to Jack was that what had once been a shoestring operation involving only the late Agent Guiterrez and his CIA case officer, Christopher Henderson, had suddenly ballooned into a full-fledged black operation requiring the bulk of CTU's West Coast resources.
While Jack watched Director Henderson bring those who were just now joining the operation up to speed with past events, Jack realized he was once again working for his old boss — and his feelings about that were mixed.
"Though explosives in the briefcase destroyed the device that Guiterrez had stolen, our team in Nicaragua managed to recover enough of its components to determine the origins of the cloaking device," Henderson explained. "So if you look at it from a certain perspective, then the Nicaragua mission was a success..."
Tell that to Gordon Guiterrez, Jack thought with self-disgust. From the expression on Tony Almeida's face, Jack knew he felt the same.
Sleeves rolled, tie tossed over his shoulder, Henderson paced the front of the glass-enclosed conference room. On the opposite side of the window, Jack spotted Ryan Chappelle and George Mason huddled in conversation. Both surreptitiously glanced at the conference in progress. Both wore sour expressions.
Chappelle's out of the loop, Jack realized, a little surprised Henderson had the clout to stonewall CTU's Regional Director.
"Through the use of advanced cybernetic forensics techniques, Morris O'Brian gave us our first break." Henderson focused his expressionless gray eyes on the British-born cyber-technician.
O'Brian's round face gave a little nod. He adjusted the cuffs of his Joseph Abboud sport coat, then glanced at the open file on the table.
"It's clear we're dealing with advanced technology. Classified technology," he said, the Cockney lilt still evident in his voice. "I was able to trace a partial serial number from the remains of a silicon chip, and the lot number from a tiny data compressor. Both were manufactured by a Japanese firm and imported for use by the United States Air Force. But our big break came when a piece of the motherboard was found at Santa Theresa Hospital in Managua..."
Nina Myers, Jack's second in command at CTU, cocked her head. "Found where?"
"During an autopsy of one bomb victim, a nine centimeter bundle of silicon and copper wire was found embedded in the corpse..." Morris paused, flipped a page and squinted as he read. "Through a close examination of this component, I surmised that the board was manufactured by Systemantics, a division of the defense contractor Omnicron International."
Morris closed the file and