A/N: Thanks for the reviews. And thank you very much for all of your concerns and prayers for my grandma. Unfortunately, she passed away last Monday, at about 1:00 in the morning. Her doctors knew that she had some type of cancer, they just didn’t know what. They sent her home from the hospital for a few days, to give her a break from testing. My Dad and I had a wonderful visit with her on Sunday afternoon. We spent about three hours with her, talking and laughing. Late Sunday night, my aunt and uncle noticed that she was having trouble breathing. The breaths were fast and very shallow, and she didn’t seem to be conscious. At the hospital, the doctors put her on oxygen and ran some tests. They took off her oxygen mask just briefly, for only a few moments, to move her for a CT scan. As soon as they did, she stopped breathing. She had signed a DNR (Do Not Revive/Resuscitate) order, and so the decision was made to let her go. She passed away quietly, with little pain, and is now resting in the arms of Jesus with her parents and other loved ones.

Her funeral was Friday. My dad and uncles gave a wonderful eulogy, and the pastor did a very nice job as well. The funeral service was filled with laughter and tears as we all shared stories and memories.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for us as we go through this difficult time.

On another note, here’s the next chapter for you.

Chapter 23

Eric froze. “Henry, Cheng Zhi is the man that kidnapped Jack Bauer,” he said quietly.

Henry’s eyes widened slightly. “Well, that creates a bit of a problem, doesn’t it?” he muttered.

Eric grabbed the man’s arm. “What are you doing here?” he demanded harshly. “Did you bring anyone else with you?”

Henry’s gaze was locked on something in the bushes. “Yes, someone else did come with him!” He motioned frantically towards the ground. “Get down!” They dove for cover, landing in a heap on the pavement. Eric winced as a jagged piece of cracked concrete scraped his cheek. Three gunshots rang out, and he cringed as the shots missed them by mere inches.

A man emerged from the thick grove of trees, carrying a sleek black sniper rifle. He smirked as he aimed the rifle directly at Eric and Henry.

Henry got to his feet, still with Cheng Zhi firmly in his grasp. “You shoot my man, I shoot yours,” he said evenly, lifting his pistol and pressing the muzzle into Cheng’s back. “Put the gun down.”

The man made no move to respond. He and Henry stood motionless, eyeing each other, locked in a tense standoff.

Henry snaked his arm around Cheng Zhi’s neck and placed his pistol against the man’s forehead. “Put it down,” he repeated, more forcefully. He pressed the muzzle of his pistol more firmly into Cheng’s temple and slowly, deliberately cocked the hammer.

Cheng flinched. “Do it, Aiguo!” he exploded. “Put the gun down, you fool!” With his steely gaze locked on Henry’s, Aiguo lowered the rifle towards the ground.

In one swift movement, Eric lunged from Henry’s side and knocked the rifle from Aiguo’s grasp, snatching it before it hit the ground. “Sit down,” he ordered harshly.“Now.” Slowly, Aiguo sank down onto the cracked, crumbling pavement. “You too,” Eric added, motioning towards Cheng Zhi with his rifle. Unceremoniously, Henry forced the man to his knees next to Aiguo.

Henry took the rifle from Eric, and handed him a bag of flex-cuffs. “Secure them.” Working quickly, Eric firmly bound the two men’s hands with the plastic restraints. “I’ll take over guard duty,” Henry added, keeping the rifle trained on the two men as he produced his satellite phone from his pocket. “Meanwhile, call Jon McCoy and tell him that we’ve got a little problem.”

Taking a deep breath, Eric dialed Jon’s number.

“Jon McCoy.”

“Jon, it’s Eric. Ask Jack Bauer if he recognizes the name of someone named Aiguo.” Jon covered the mouthpiece of the phone and repeated Eric’s question. Eric heard a muffled exclamation of surprise from Jack, followed by a murmured answer.

“He says that Aiguo is the man that was assigned to guard him in Falun Dafa,” Jon reported. “Why?”

Eric sighed. “He’s here. He and Cheng Zhi.”

A barrage of muffled cursing erupted from Jon McCoy’s lips. It was followed by a chorus of, “Hey!”, “Whoa!”, “Watch it!”, and “Watch the road!” from his passengers.

“Sorry, guys,” Jon called out. “Sorry, Eric,” he added. “Anyway, what the hell is Cheng Zhi doing there?”

“He and Aiguo showed up with a sniper rifle in tow, intending to take us out. And you as well, most likely,” Eric said grimly. “What do you want to do?” he added. “Do you want to continue as planned, or do you want to wait a while?”

Jon hesitated. “I think we’ll keep going. We’re almost to you, anyway, and we have weapons. We should be okay.”

“How do we know that Cheng doesn’t have a team lying in wait somewhere, waiting to ambush you?” Eric asked. He pressed a button on the phone. “Here, ask him yourself. You’re on speakerphone.”

Jon spoke up in rapid-fire Chinese, sounding absolutely furious. Cheng Zhi snarled back at him in the same language, and then switched to English. “Fortunately for you, we did not think of that. You are safe.”

Henry peered down the barrel of his rifle, staring directly into the man’s dark eyes. “For your sake, I hope you’re not lying.”

“I’m not,” Cheng said simply.

Eric shook his head. “I don’t like it, but I guess we’ll just have to go on blind faith. Be careful, Jon,” he said earnestly.

“We will,” Jon assured him. “See you soon.”

“We’ll be waiting for you.” With that, Eric hung up the phone.

TBC