Plot - Interrogation Room I

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In less time than it takes to blink, Kim could free herself and be standing on a mound of rubble that was once a wall.

She doesn't have to submit to them. The mirror shows a reflection, but she knows it's hiding double sided glass.

They're watching her.

Thousands of miles away, she senses Behrooz, and she knows he can't be distracted or feel her fear. 'I'm sorry,' she thinks. 'I'm sorry that I can't let you be here and that I can't help you and that I was unable to figure any way out for either of us.'

She keeps her hands on the table, wanting to dig her nails in, feeling the weight of the path she's chosen. For anyone else, they'd be trapped, but she could escape, it would just mean that at least one person would know what she really is - and she can't let that information get out.

The other way out of this situation, would be to start talking, to tell them what they want to hear and save herself. If her dad knew what was happening, he'd tell her that he only wants her to be safe and that he wouldn't blame her for giving in. She knows that there's no good option, either she betrays his trust, or she stays silent and deals with the consequences.

Bill enters the room, he talks to her for a few minutes, and she wishes she could tell him the truth. Her lies are part of the reason why she's here now, if she'd only been honest, maybe he would have accepted her arguments as more than just family loyalty.

He tells her that she could be protecting an assassin, and she presses her lips together for a moment before looking up at him. He doesn't know a quarter of what her family's been through, and she intends to keep it that way.

'I know who I'm protecting and you have no idea what I could do to you right now if I let my control slip.' she thinks. She went to China, she faced unknown danger to save him, and he's done the same for her.

They want to use her to get to him and she won't let them.

A long time ago, she told her dad that she'd sooner die than be used to hurt innocent people. The situation's not exactly the same, but, she survived Mesaana, and she'll survive whatever happens next.

She saw her dad after China, she tried to remind him of reality when it slipped away, when the lights went out and just that was enough of a trigger. A sick feeling spreads through her at the thought of him in this situation. In CTU, you're guilty until they find evidence otherwise, and they wouldn't listen to denials and they'd hurt him until he confessed or they --

"He's innocent," she repeated as Bill left, and with him her chance for getting out of this unharmed.

Time passes.

Behrooz was right. She has some idea of how he felt, sitting in that room, and waiting for them to make a decision. She'll defend them even after they make her scream, because it's the only way she knows, and she's part of it. Once she only felt hate and a desire for revenge, now she tries to feel nothing at all.

She breathes in, allowing herself one last image of the rose unfurling, prepared for pain, and determined not to speak or give in.

A soft buzz and the door opens.

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[theredshirts.livejournal.com]

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Mike Doyle always thought that the most important part was the anticipation. His stride is measured, careful, and takes just slightly too long to put a foot down. There is a hollow reverberation in the empty room. He held a piece of paper in his hand. The other hand was folded behind his back and held a heavy, silver gun--the weight felt just right in his hand. His voice is mechanical.

"Name: Kimberly Anne Bauer. Gender: female. Social Security Number: Eight Seven Zero Zero Three Three Four Seven Zero. Height: Five foot three inches. Weight: one hundred and thirteen pounds. Father: Jack Bauer. Mother: Teri Bauer--deceased. No siblings. Level Two Analyst at CTU: Los Angeles."

Casually, Mike Doyle sat on the table in front of her, the gun in his lap.

"I'm Agent Doyle, Miss Bauer. Now that the introductions are done, I think we should have a talk."

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She looks up when he enters the room and a chill goes through her. Mike Doyle. Oh God.

His tactic catches her off guard, they've worked together, he certainly doesn't need to be introduced, but there's no familiarity in his stare.

She inwardly winces at the tone of his voice. This is going to be more difficult than she thought.

His legs almost touch hers and she wants to move away. The gun resting on his lap is large, a high calliber, and it's meant to intimidate her.

"I have nothing to say," She meets his gaze calmly, but the source is just within her reach, and she stops herself from embracing it only because she knows anything she does will make things worse.

[theredshirts.livejournal.com]

He leaned forward slightly, his voice still cold and mechanical. The formality gave him a gravitas that he would not have just as her coworker.

"That's a shame, Miss Bauer. After all, I'm a busy man and we have some words to exchange before I can get back to work."

His index finger caressed the underside of the pistol's barrel. The cool metal skipping across his callused fingers with the ease of familiarity.

"Why don't we talk about your dad? To break the ice, you know."

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Kim tries not to watch the gun, but it's hard to pretend that it doesn't concern her.

'I thought interrogating people was your job' she thinks. It's better that she's here, she can handle this, she can make it out of this undamaged.

"What about my dad?" She asks carefully, stalling for time.

[theredshirts.livejournal.com]

His ring finger slid along the trigger guard--up and down, forward and back--A forced grimace on his face as he spat every word of Jack's name leaning ever so slightly forward.

"I'd like to have a chat with the Great Jack Bauer, so why don't you call him up, and ask how his day has been?"

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If Doyle thinks this is going to work, he's sadly mistaken.

Her hands are still free and she keeps her wrists pressed against the arm rests of the chair. She'll be non-threatening, but also non-cooperative.

"I don't know how to reach him," she lies and forces herself to maintain eye contact.

[theredshirts.livejournal.com]

"Bullshit!"

Pounding the metal butt of the gun against the metal table, Doyle snapped at her. The sound echoed and re-echoed throughout the room. Waiting a moment, he commented in his cold mechanical voice again.

"Don't insult my intelligence, Miss Bauer. Get ahold of Jack."

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She jumps a little at his outburst, her heart starting to beat faster.

'He might hurt me, but no matter what happens, I'll recover.'

"I can't do that," she says softly, her expression is deceptively neutral.

[theredshirts.livejournal.com]

Snatching Kim by her hair, he pulled her face in close to his. The left corner of his lips parted to reveal teeth open ever so slightly.

"We will have your cooperation, Miss Bauer. The only question is how long is it going to take and how much is it going to hurt. Tell me where I can find Jack Bauer."

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Kim only glares at him, ignoring the way his grip is causing pain to radiate across her scalp and barely keeping her balance at the sudden movement.

His words slide over her. She won't give in.

"I can't do that," she repeats. "He's innocent and I won't let you hurt him."

[theredshirts.livejournal.com]

Doyle turned and nodded to the pane of mirrored glass on the wall across from him. His right hand flexed slightly, and then he leapt forward off the table--She wasn't a big woman and his hand wrapped almost all the way around her neck--pressing forward and down--the chair crashing to the floor--her head rebounding off the concrete floor, but stopped by his hand still around her throat.

Kneeling beside Kim, he adjusted his fingers to dig into the veins on the side of her neck. Pulling the silver pistol to his face, he held the top of the barrel in his teeth and pushed forward to cock the gun. Doyle put the barrel against Kim's face, and licked the metallic taste off his lips. His voice was calm.

"Now tell me how I can get Jack, Miss Bauer."

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Before she can react, his hand's against her throat and she's falling backward. She gasps as she hits the ground, her eyes filling with tears and she tries not to panic.

The pressure of his hand and the look in his eyes is reminding her of events she's locked away for a long time.

As her body realizes it can't get air into her lungs, her breathing threatens to become erratic, and if she's not careful she's going to fall back on instinct.

Saidar beckons her, the warm glow enticing and promising an end to the ordeal. If she could just channel a single thread of air, just enough to make him release her, or Compulsion him to move away, she could regain her composure.

'Dad would break, he couldn't go through this, Doyle wouldn't be gentle - oh God is this gentle?'

Another jolt of pain through her neck and into her head. The gun is cool against her cheek and it's a shock to realize she's feeling temperature.

"I'm not telling you anything," she whispers as tears slide down her face. She's made her decision, she has no choice but to follow through.

[theredshirts.livejournal.com]

The corner of Doyle's mouth twitched slightly. He had doubted this would go smoothly, but no matter. That just meant this would take a bit longer.

"Yes, Miss Bauer, you will."

His grip tightened as he put more of his body weight on his hand and dug his fingers into the sides of her neck.

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Kim's mind is blank except for the need to take a breath.

It's like being under water but she can't get to the surface.

Without thinking about the consequences, she places her hands against the floor and tries to move backward, her heels pressed against the legs of the chair and kicking off slightly.

[theredshirts.livejournal.com]

His teeth parted as he snarled a sharp reply

"You aren't convincing anyone of your or his innocence."

Shooting his knee to her side and then repeating it twice more to discourage her further, he kept his hand on her throat--enough to stay conscious but precious little else. Brushing the hair out of her face with the barrel of the gun, he tensed his lips.

"Now get me Jack Bauer."

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If she could talk, she'd scream. Instead the tears fall faster as she feels his knee make contact with her ribs and kidneys.

Her vision's starting to grey out at the edges, creating a viewing arc that's obscured further by blurry eyes.

And she knows that compared to what people she loved went through, this is nothing.

He caresses her face with his gun and she's on the verge of panic, a few more moments and she'll have to defend herself.

"I don't know where to find him," she pants, gasping for air.

[theredshirts.livejournal.com]

Bill's still reeling from his talk with Wayne Palmer when he walks into the observation room, his eyes widening at what he sees. Dammit, Division might be breathing down their necks to get answers from Kim, but this is way out of bounds for the information, and Doyle looks completely out of control, he has to stop this--

Pressing the button that allows him to communicate with Doyle's earpiece, Bill barks, "Doyle, get off of her and get out here right this minute!"

[theredshirts.livejournal.com]

Doyle rose to his feet and brushed himself off. Nodding to the glass window, he spoke so that Bill could hear him.

"Right away, sir."

He glanced down at Kim for a moment. She could get up herself. Without another word, he slipped the gun into the waistband of his pants and walked out of the door.

[theredshirts.livejournal.com]

"I want to speak with you in my office right this minute," Bill says quietly, walking out into the hallway. Christ, he'd bent to Division's wishes because he thought he could keep some kind of control over this situation, but obviously he hadn't counted on Agent Doyle to go way too far.

They're halfway back to his office when an analyst runs up to him, a folder in their hand. "This just came up from Forensics, sir. It's urgent."

Bill stops, taking the folder and flipping it open. Skimming the report, he can feel his stomach start to sink, his fingers turning cold.

...concluded that the substance found on the partial fingerprints was common cooking oil...no human epithelials or skin oils were found on the weapon, including in the partial fingerprints...

"Sir?" Doyle asks, and Bill realises he hasn't hidden his reaction; not that there's any reason to. Not with this kind of development.

"Call the field teams back, and get someone to take Kim to medical," he says, starting toward his office, "Jack didn't kill David Palmer; he was set up."