The story is a sequel to ‘Is it Worth the Risk?’, but you don’t have to have read it. The relationship between Claudia and Jack just makes more sense if you know the story.

Authors note: Thanks to catch22girl for her comments and beta and to Garak for taking the time to get rid of my habit using the same words over and over again. ;)

“Chase. I need more time. Did you make this clear to Luis?” Jack whispered annoyed into his cell phone.

“Of course I did. But his patience is running out. He wants Ramon Salazar in custody by the end of the month,” Chase explained. Of course he had tried everything possible. He knew exactly how important this mission was.

Jack sighed and shook his head. The Department of Justice and the FBI had been very forthcoming when CTU had asked for support regarding Jack’s undercover mission in Mexico.

Luis Annicon, one of California’s top District Attorneys, had been in the final stages of putting Ramon Salazar behind bars for drug trafficking, when Jack had approached him. Luis had agreed on holding back the warrant and had accepted a six months delay of the arrest. Now the six months were almost up and Annicon wanted to see his side of the bargain fulfilled.

Jack knew it was just a matter of time until he would obtain crucial information about Ramon’s terrorist connections. But time was one of the luxuries he didn’t have. He had made good progress during the last six months. The schedule of the mission was just too limited to achieve the level of trust necessary to access the information he was looking for. Due to this the whole mission was on the brink of failure. At least for CTU. The Department of Justice would get sufficient charges and evidence through Jack’s undercover mission to put Ramon Salazar behind bars for more than one lifetime.

“Try to talk to him again, Chase,” Jack said finally.

“I will. But anyway, you should be ready for the end game. We have to fulfill our part of the deal when the time is up. Annicon expects Ramon in Los Angeles in ten days,” Chase reminded him.

“I know.”

“Call me again when you can.”

“Sure.” Jack disconnected his cell phone and put it back into it’s hiding place. Even with a scrambled cell phone it was risky to contact CTU, but it was necessary to update his partner Chase Edmunds every few days.

He tried to calculate how long it would take to prepare the so-called ‘end game’. He was supposed to set up a business trip to Los Angeles for Ramon and himself. The warrant to capture Ramon Salazar was only valid in the US, so the Department of Justice had no jurisdiction in Mexico. As soon as they landed at the Los Angeles airport the police would take Ramon into custody.

Ten days were not much time to turn this mission around.

---

Later that afternoon Jack had overcome his pessimistic mood and was planning his next move. A knock on the door interrupted his brooding. When he called to come in, Claudia slipped into the room and locked the door.

“Where’s Hector?” Jack looked at her cautiously.

“He took Sergio to inspect the plantation. You know how fond he is of spending time with my brother,” she calmed him down.

It seemed like a miracle to Jack, that they had managed to keep their relationship secret from Hector. It was a risky game, but they had been careful.

For a brief moment his conscience reminded him how wrong it was to use Claudia like this. But he couldn’t deny that he’d made a big step forward in his investigation since they had come together. The information he had gathered from her during trivial conversations were no more than superficial; just random clues about names and meetings. But it was a lot more than he had before. He couldn’t back out now. He had to play this through.

“We have at least an hour before they return,” she smiled at him. The look in her eyes told him exactly how she wanted to spend those sixty minutes .

He produced his most seducing smile and carefully removed a coil of hair from her face that had fallen over her eyes. “Good.” He touched her cheeks and kissed her softly. Then he pushed her gently onto the bed.

As he looked at her body sprawled across the bed, he felt a mixture of desire and guilt. He wasn’t in love with her. He would never allow himself to fall for a woman while being undercover. Staying focused was crucial. But he couldn’t deny his physical attraction for her.

“What are you waiting for? Do you plan to waste the hour just staring?” Claudia asked mockingly with a hint of impatience.

“ If you could see with my eyes, you would also take your time to appreciate the view.” Then he climbed on the bed and kissed her on the lips. When he started to touch her, she closed her eyes and squirmed in anticipation.

“Maybe I should make sure Ramon’s not looking for me,” he said, while moving lower to kiss her neck.

“Forget it,” she sighed, obviously not in the mood to talk. “They have a very important meeting tonight. Ramon is busy preparing it.”

Jack suddenly stopped kissing her neck and pulled back, kneeling on the bed.

Claudia opened her eyes confused: “Why did you stop?”

“What meeting?”

“What meeting? I don’t care. Come on!” She tried to pull him down again, but he refused. Instead he grabbed her by the shoulders, pulled her up and intensified his grip.

“What meeting?” he insisted.

Claudia realized, that Jack suddenly had lost all interest in their romantic encounter. When he got this edge in his voice, he became quite frightening.

Frustrated she answered: “I don’t know. Really. I just heard Ramon talking on the phone yesterday. It sounded pretty important and he invited those people for tonight. Oh, and I think they are from Russia. Ramon mentioned something like this while talking to Hector. Why do you care?” She tried to lean forward and kiss him again, but Jack pushed her away and stood up, his mind reeling.

If he wasn't told about a meeting, it certainly had nothing to do with the drug business. He had to find out the reasons for this secretiveness. Maybe he wouldn’t have to end this mission empty handed after all.

“I need to talk to Ramon.” And with that he left the room, leaving a very confused Claudia still sitting on his bed.

After Jack had closed the door, he heard a muffled thud inside his bedroom. Despite the urgent news he couldn’t stifle a smile. It had sounded a lot like Claudia throwing a shoe after him.

---

Jack found Ramon in his study flipping through some papers. When he noticed Jack standing in the doorway the drug baron lay them down on his heavy mahogany desk and greeted Jack in his overly effusive way: “Jack! Good to see you. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Jack stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. “Do you remember our last conversation about hiring new men? I wondered if we could talk about the details tonight. If you want to run this business smoothly, you need to put more professionals on your paylist,” Jack said.

With this request he had Ramon in a corner. He would have to tell him about the meeting now.

“Tonight is not good. We are expecting guests in an hour. Maybe we could do this tomorrow,” Ramon stalled.

“Guests? What’s the occasion?” Jack put on an innocent smile, pretending ignorance.

“Oh, just business talks. Possible new customers from Eastern Europe,” it was obvious that Ramon tried to play the whole issue down.

“Europe? I didn’t know you are planning to expand your drug connections to another continent,” Jack answered, not intending to accept Ramon's elusiveness.

Ramon hesitated. It was obvious, that he was uncertain how much he should reveal to Jack. “It’s not about the drug business, Jack. There are other ways to make a good fortune, you know?”

Jack replied nothing, but he lifted a curious eyebrow.

When Ramon didn’t continue Jack said: “Come on, Ramon. What’s the big secret here? I thought I’ve earned your trust by now.”

“Of course you have. You’re my best man. But it’s all about patience, Jack. Things like this take careful considerations. You will get what you want. Just give it some time.”

‘Time is one of the things I don’t have,’ Jack thought frustrated. Out loud he said: “I don’t like secrets, that’s all.”

“I know, Jack. And I like your bluntness about things like this. Maybe next time...”

Suddenly the door was pushed open and Hector came in. He was furious and could just barely hold his temper. He looked like he would explode in an outburst of anger any second.

“What’s wrong, Hector? Get a grip and tell me what the hell has happened,” Ramon said, trying to calm his younger brother.

Hector took a few seconds to compose himself before he responded through clenched teeth: “I knew it! Do you remember? I told you Diego was behaving suspiciously. He’s deceiving us, that’s what happened. And I thought we were paying him enough to oversee the drying facility. He’s working into his own pocket, by selling ‘our’ merchandise to his own buyers!”

“What? Diego betrayed us?” asked Ramon on full alert. “How did you find out?”

Hector smiled coldly. “Thankfully nothing goes undetected in this place, Ramon. Pedro and Rafael have seen him doing business outside the factory with two unidentified men. They don’t know who these guys were, but there was no mistake in what they were doing.”

“Have you taken any action against him?”

“No, I thought you might like to hear about it first.”

“Good. We need to know who his buyers are. Jack? I want you to take care of this.”

“What?” This was certainly not the kind of assignment Jack had hoped for. It would keep him away from the ranch, while the mysterious meeting took place.

“Take some of the men and find out who those bastards are. I don’t care what happens with Diego, I want to hear names.” The tone in Ramon’s voice made it clear that this was meant as an order, but Jack refused to obey.

“Thomas can take care of it...”

“No. You will go. I already told you, you’re not invited. I want this problem solved quickly. And you are the best man for this. I don’t want to hear another word!” Ramon started to get into one of his notorious tantrums.

Jack stared at Ramon, his face unreadable. “Fine.”

While he left the room he reached for his cell phone. “Thomas? Get your men and bring the cars. I will meet you outside in fifteen minutes.”

--

Jack couldn’t refuse Ramon’s order without risking his credibility, but he had to learn everything he could about those guests from Europe. Claudia was on her way to the kitchen, when he found her. He pulled her into a corner and whispered: “I need your help.”

“Oh, so now you need my help?” she hissed back.

“I think Ramon doesn't trust me. I need to know what this meeting is about. Who these people are and what are they doing here.”

“Do you think I‘m stupid? First you leave me in your room without an explanation and then you ask me to spy for you? You are crazy,” her eyes flashed in anger.

“Ramon put me on an assignment, which keeps me out of the real important play,” Jack took her face in his hands and looked at her pleadingly. “Please. Do this for me.”

Claudia was calming down. She looked into his eyes and realized how serious he was. “Why is this so important to you?” When he didn’t answer, she sighed. “Okay, fine. I will do what I can. But I can’t promise you anything. They won’t let me stay in the room. All I can do is eavesdrop at the door.”

“Thank you,” Jack said with relief in his voice. “I have to go, Thomas is already waiting outside.” He kissed her and went to join the others.

-----

When Jack entered the front yard Thomas, his second in command, and their men were already waiting for him.

Losing no time, he gave them a rough outline of what had happened. “Hector suspects that Diego keeps some of the drugs for himself and sells them to fill his own pocket. We want to know the identity of his buyers. We will pay him a visit and ask him some questions. Thomas and Pedro will come inside with me for a ‘little talk’ with our ‘friend’ Diego. Carlos?”

“Yes, Jack?”

“You take care of whoever else is in the house. Wife, children, any other guests, I want them out of the way. Lock them in a room and stay with them. The rest of you secure the doors of the building. Make sure no one gets in or out. If no one objects, I would like to get this over quickly. Questions? No? Then let’s go.”

----

At the drying facility they hadn’t run into any troubles with Diego. He had been sitting peacefully at dinner with his family when they had entered their little house next to the factory. Now everyone was in position, his wife and two kids safely in a room upstairs.

“Who are your buyers, Diego?” Jack stood in front of the frightened factory foreman and looked down on him. Diego sat handcuffed, just in his shorts, on a wooden chair in his kitchen. He was sweating and shaking from fear.

Thomas gave Pedro a sign and he hit Diego in the face with his fist.

“Tell me who your buyers are!” Jack asked again.

Diego groaned, his lip had started to bleed. He lowered his head and answered: “They will kill me if I tell you.”

Jack sighed and gave him a look full of loathing. “Oh, Diego. What do you think we will do if you don’t?”

Their prisoner still refused to give any answers.

“Pedro? Make him talk,” Jack said indifferently. Pedro’s eyes glinted in anticipation. He preferred an elegant blade, over inflicting pain with a crude fist.

Slowly, like in a ritual, he opened the box he had brought with him and presented his knifes on the table.

Diego started squirming in abject fear.

“You just have to answer my questions, Diego, and nothing will happen to you,” Jack offered. He started to get impatient. Why was this guy so stubborn?

Diego shook his head.

Pedro just grinned and took with obvious anticipation one of the knifes from the table. “Let’s start with something simple. Like your arm.” When the blade sliced the skin Diego’s scream was nerve shattering.

Jack felt slightly sick. ‘Maybe I should have shot up, before leaving.’ He had lost track of time due to the unexpected assignment. Well, too late for regrets, he had to see this through now.

“Come on, Diego. Who are your buyers?”

“Why don’t we bring in one of his kids?” Pedro suggested with a nasty tone in his voice, playing with his knife.

Jack pretended to think about it. “No, I don’t think that will be necessary. Diego is an intelligent man. He will cooperate. Won’t you?” He looked at Diego and smiled benevolently.

Diego face went deathly pale.

“Why don’t we start from the beginning. Who...”

Suddenly they heard gunfire outside the house. Jack instinctively reached for his walkie-talkie and contacted Rafael in front of the building. He reported a heavy armed assault on his men. Jack ordered Thomas and Pedro to get outside and support the others, while he stayed in the kitchen to secure the room and the prisoner.

----

A few minutes later the noise already started to ebb away. Whoever their enemy was didn't seem to have much experience in tactical warfare. Jack's men were very quickly in control of the situation.

During the shooting Diego had started to scream in fear. He was still cuffed to the chair without any chance to get out, if the enemy had reached the room. Even now that the shooting had died down, he still whimpered.

When Jack was sure everything was secured outside, he turned his attention back to Diego and snapped at him, pretty annoyed: “Shut up! Everything is under control.”

While talking to Diego he felt movement behind him. When he looked into the kitchen window in front of him, he could see the reflection of a human shape moving from the living room into the kitchen. None of his men had a reason to creep like this. A faint creak of the wooden floor. Jack swirled around and pulled the trigger of his gun in one fluid motion. It was just one shot, but it didn’t miss it’s target. Only then Jack realized who the mysterious sneaker had been.

Consuela, Diego’s wife.

She was still standing in the doorway, a look of surprise on her face. The red spot on her dress was growing bigger. Finally her legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor.

Diego started screaming in terror and tried frantically to free himself. Alarmed by the noise Thomas rushed into the kitchen. When Diego didn’t stop, he knocked him unconscious.

Jack didn’t move, the gun still pointed in Consuela’s direction. The room had turned eerily silent. The only thing he could hear was his own breathing. ‘Oh, my god.’ Seconds later the spell was broken and he slowly lowered the gun. He moved over to the lifeless body and reached for her pulse. He couldn’t feel anything. She was dead.

Pedro entered the room, with a casualty report from outside. Two of the attackers were down, three in custody. “And you won’t believe who’s with them. Alessandro! Cortez’s son! I bet he’s the head of the whole thing. I can’t believe he’s stealing drugs from his father’s rivals!”

Jack was only half listening, still staring at the dead woman. “Where’s Carlos? Get him here. Now!”

When no one moved he looked up with a very dangerous glint in his eyes.

“Yes, Sir!” Pedro stammered and left the room in a hurry. Just seconds later he was back, with Carlos in tow.

“Hey, Jack. What’s wrong?” Jack wondered if Carlos only played the innocent or if he really was that stupid. It was obvious he had noticed the dead body on the floor, but it didn’t seem to bother him at all.

“What’s ‘wrong‘? Where have you been, Carlos? You had the order to keep an eye on Diego’s wife and his kids! So how the hell can it happen that Consuela shows up here in the kitchen?” Jack was furious.

Carlos looked scandalized. “Come on, Jack. When the ambush began I thought it would be much more useful if I’d join the fight. Baby-sitting doesn’t do much good if we lose.”

Without a warning, Jack struck out and hit him, the gun still in his hand. Carlos stumbled back while he held his face, wincing in pain. Blood started oozing out of a deep cut on his cheek, where the metal of the gun had made contact with his face. “Are you crazy, Jack? Okay, she’s dead. But who cares? She’s just the bitch of a traitor. Don’t make such a fuss.”

Jack stared at him in disbelief.

“Fuss? You don’t get it, do you? The problem with you is, that you are not able to follow my orders. I give you a simple task and you are too stupid to carry it out. This is unacceptable if you work for me.”

“Baby-sitting! This is a ridiculous job for men like us!” Carlos flared up to Jack, not realizing what he was doing. The others did, because everybody took a step back.

Jack’s face had turned into a cold mask, while Carlos was busy with his wailing. He just looked at Carlos. Suddenly he raised his gun, and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Carlos in the forehead and he was dead before his body hit the ground. Everything went so fast, Carlos never even realized what had happened to him.

For a few seconds no one moved. Jack lowered his gaze and took a last long look at the dead body of Consuela, trying to memorize her face. Then he turned around and resumed his routine. “Thomas? Take care of Diego and get our prisoners into the cars. We are done here.”

He didn’t look back when he left the building.

----

Back at the Salazar estate Jack gave orders to unload their prisoners. Hector came out of the house due to the commotion of the arriving cars.

“How did it go, Jack?” Hector asked without wasting time.

“It was a disaster,” Thomas answered in his place.

“Why?” Hector asked confused, looking at Jack.

When Jack didn’t respond Thomas continued. “Jack shot Carlos, that’s what happened.”

“What?”

“I can’t work with morons who are not capable of following simple orders. How many times have I told you we need professionals?” Jack defended himself. Then he looked Hector straight in the eyes and continued. “He endangered the whole interrogation. If you insist I can give you a full report later, but not now. Is Ramon inside? I have a present for him.”

“Yes. He’s waiting for you.”

----

When Jack entered the big living room, Ramon already expected him and was more than eager to hear about the results of the interrogation. He even skipped his usual little welcome ceremony. “Did you find out any names?”

“Maybe you should have a little talk with your old nemesis Cortez.”

“Why?”

“Because of him.” Jack gave a signal and Alessandro Cortez was brought in. He grabbed him by the collar and yanked the young man to the floor. “This little bastard is his son. It seems he wants to play games in the drug business with toys stolen from you.”

Ramon just stared at the man cowering on the floor. He didn’t know what to say, which was a rare event.

Jack pointed a finger at Ramon and continued. “You take care of him. I’m done.” With a last angry glare he left the room.

----

As soon as Jack had reached an empty corridor he stopped and collapsed against the wall. Exhausted he ran his fingers through his hair and tried to calm down. So far he’d been able to compensate for his frustration and despair with furious anger, but he felt this facade slowly cracking. With deep breaths he tried to slow down his racing heart, but it wasn’t working. He noticed that his hands were shaking and a faint film of sweat was covering his skin. He needed a fix. His whole body craved for it. ‘When have I become so weak?’ He despised himself for this overwhelming need.

Suddenly he heard footsteps behind the corner. He pushed himself away from the wall, trying to compose himself.

It was Claudia.

Carefully she looked around to make sure no one had followed her. Then she turned to Jack. “Don’t you ever dare to ask me for a favor like this again,” she hissed angrily.

“Did you hear anything?”

“Not much. But they are not Russians. They mentioned Grozny a few times, so I think they are from Chechnya. They were talking about a new product on the market. Highly dangerous and like a gold mine for whomever owns it. But I couldn’t hear what it was. They talked about money a lot. I just don’t think they came to an agreement. Ramon wasn’t willing to pay more than 50 Million Dollars. After an hour they broke off the negotiations and left. That’s it.”

Without another word she turned around to leave, but Jack grabbed her by her arm and held her back. She looked down on his hand and said appalled: “You have blood on your hands, Jack. Maybe you better go wash it off.” Then she freed herself from his grip and vanished around the corner.

He stared after her for a while and finally whispered: “I’m not sure if I can.”

-----

Jack sat on his bed, the heroin kit in his hands. He hadn’t opened it so far, but he knew the pathetic rest of his self-control wouldn't last forever. Every time he closed his eyes the image of Consuela’s dead face staring up at him creeped into his mind, with the promise to follow him into his dreams.

Jack realized that he slowly lost control over the whole mission. The unsatisfactory flow of information, his affair with Claudia, the drugs and what had happened tonight were only a few examples of a doomed operation.

Maybe it was a good thing Luis Annicon insisted on the six month agreement. This was going nowhere. He would have all the time in the world to get Ramon to talk when he was in prison. At least the information he had gotten from Claudia sounded very promising. This was definitely worth looking into, as soon as he got back to L.A..

There was just one problem, he tried to suppress. His promise to Claudia.

His mind wandered back to that afternoon, a few weeks ago, when they had come together and talked. Claudia had been telling him about her dreams and plans for the future. Her yearning to leave this place one day. When she'd asked to take her with him in case he’d ever tried to leave, she had handled it like a laughing matter. She had tried to make it sound like a joke, but it was obvious to Jack that her request was very serious. He hadn’t known how to respond back then. After his silence he had felt her stiffen and move away from him. He had grabbed her shoulders to stop this moment of estrangement and pulled her back to his chest while he had heard himself saying: “Not so fast. I promise you to take you with me. It’s just not as easy as you think. But I give you my word.”

He still didn't understand what had let him make such a rash promise. Was it his fear of losing his best source of information? His fear of losing her company, he’d learned to cherish over the last few weeks? Or because he’d started to care for her?

Whatever it was, he had given her his word in full knowledge that he had no idea how to keep it. He just hoped he would find a solution when the time came. If not, he would have to live with this broken oath.

Consuela’s accusing dead eyes crept into his mind again. He squeezed his eyes together shut, but it didn’t help. He had shot an innocent. She was just a worried wife, looking for her husband. She hadn’t deserved to die. He was supposed to be able to differ between enemy and civilian, but his concentration had slipped for just a second.

A second can make the difference between life and death.

It filled him with deep grief when he thought about the children they had left back at the house. He had killed their mother and delivered their father to the non-existing mercy of the Salazar brothers. He tried to block out his unbidden thoughts about Teri, but he couldn’t. A lump was forming in his throat.

‘So much for my theory of detachment‘, Jack thought bitterly.

His hands started to shake again and he finally opened the heroin kit.

End