Free 24 Declassified: 03 - Trojan Horse by Marc Cerasini

I have a better way to get a picture...an exclusive picture.
    Lon snatched up his bag of tricks—a large garment bag stuffed full of clothing collected over the years. Then he draped the camera bag over his shoulder.
    For luck, Lon touched an eight-by-ten color glossy on his way out the door.
    Lots of folks identified with movie characters. For some it was Batman, others adored tough guys like Humphrey Bogart. Lon’s hero was hanging on the wall near the light switch—a photograph of actor Danny DeVito from L.A. Confidential.
    8:55:13 A . M .PDT Over Verdugo City
    Detective Frank Castalano could barely hear his partner’s transmission. The LAPD helicopter he rode in was cruising at top speed, at less than six hundred feet over the city’s northern suburbs. At that low altitude, the roar of the engine and the sound of the beating rotors bounced off the ground, magnifying the deafening clamor inside the aircraft.
    “Say again,” Castalano roared, clutching the headset tightly to his ears to shut out all other sound.
    “I said everyone’s in on the manhunt now,” Detective Jerry Alder replied. “The uniforms, the State Police, the sheriff’s office, even the goddamn Park Rangers. There’s a ring around Angeles National Park the Rams couldn’t break through, and a chopper is tracking the Jaguar—”
    “Hopefully from a discreet distance.”
    “You know how that goes,” Alder replied.
    Castalano cursed. It was his case, but he was losing control of it. Bad enough Jack Bauer convinced him to turn over the victim’s computer. Though Castalano knew he would get an analysis of the computer’s hard drive and history faster from CTU than from his own department, it was a double bind—Jack or his bosses could also withhold information from the LAPD in the name of “national security.”
    “Christ, Jerry,” Castalano moaned, “with so many squad cars and guns around here, the odds for a capture instead of a kill are looking as bad as a Vegas slot machine. And the fucking air dispatcher warned me that word was getting out about the church bus full of kids the perp ran off the road.”
    “That was bad,” Alder replied. “But it gets worse.”
    “Enlighten me.”
    “Nina Vandervorn of TV News Nine just phoned the chief,” Alder said. “The station has got footage of the police cars in front of Vetri’s house, the ambulances coming and going. Says she’s running with the footage on the noon news—”
    “Shit.”
    “We can’t keep this buried much longer,” Alder warned.
    “Noon is a couple of hours away,” Castalano said, his mind racing. “If we can snatch up this asshole in the Jag, we might solve our case. Go ahead and get permission to schedule a news conference for eleven o’clock. We might have our man by then. Either way, we’ll control release of the information— and steal Ms. Vandervorn’s thunder.”
    8:59:43 A . M .PDT Santa Monica
    Jack Bauer opened his eyes the instant Teri’s hand touched his shoulder. He didn’t need to check his watch to know he hadn’t slept long. His hair was still damp from the shower, and his head still throbbed.
    Teri stood over him, the cordless phone in one hand. “Sorry to wake you, Jack. It’s Nina Myers.”
    Jack sat up, took the phone. He held the receiver to his naked chest until Teri exited the bedroom. Then he put the phone to his ear.
    “Nina?”
    “What are you doing, Jack?” Nina cried. “Ryan Chappelle flew back from D.C. on the red-eye and hit the roof.”
    “I don’t follow.” Jack rubbed his injured arm, now stiff from sleep.
    “The raid at Utopia Studios. It was supposed to be a clandestine operation. Now it’s on the morning news.”
    “Jesus,” Jack groaned.
    “I talked to Chet Blackburn. He told me you took off with some Los Angeles detective. Something personal. Does that computer the Cyber-Unit brought in have something to do with it?”
    “Yes.”
    “Needless to say, I kept those facts from Ryan. He’s angry enough as