Who is Chloe O'Brian Chapter 11
Jack quickly scrolls past the image as he tries to convince his chest to intake oxygen again.
Coming to the history page, he begins reading about Chloe O’Brian. Or rather, according to the classified file he’s looking at “Melinda Rosalia De Bellis.
Birth: January 4, 1972 Vittoria, Sicily
Parents: Rosalia and Michael De Bellis
Religion: Greek Orthodox
Time Line:
May 1990: Enlisted Italian Air Force
Stationed: July 1990: Sigonella Naval Air Station
Scanning through the time line, seeing most of the page in Italian, Jack looks up at Tony “How good is your Italian?”
Letting out a low whistle, Tony shakes his head. “Rusty. I get the gist though...” He says scanning through the page.
“1994… sottotenente… That’s lieutenant I believe….1996 … injured in the line of duty…. gunshot to the back… yikes...”
Jack’s eyes narrow as he absorbs Tony’s words. “Chloe was in the military?” He asks, his voice showing his shock and looks behind him to the unconscious woman on the bed with new eyes.
“Yeah... it appears so. Looks like she...” He stops as he moves the curser down the page. “Yeah, here… Looks like she officially retired from the Italian Air Force after literally getting back on her feet and enrolled in college in 1997” Whistling again, Tony gave his head a quick shake and looks at Jack. “Our girl was recruited by the CIA a few months later.”
Scanning through the next few pages, Tony gives a run down to Jack as he hits on major points. “The next pages are basically a history of her military experience. Then after that is a few redacted CIA missions before she was sent as a liaison to MI5”
“What’s the most recent?’ Jack asks.
Tony continues scrolling through the pages. “Ahh English!”
They both hunch over the laptop as they read about De Bellis’ last mission with Mi5.
“Looks like this is what we need… Here... Bob Hogan… He’s the station chief Chloe mentioned to me” Jack tells Tony.
As he reads, Jack lets out a furious hiss. “She was green! Harry had no business sending her after Hogan!”
“That’s probably why he did it Jack. She’d be the last person Hogan expected. At least that’s the way it worked until she got back. Hogan must have had her under surveillance. As soon as he realized what was at stake, and what she knew, he ordered the hit.”
Reading, Jack gets to the last photographs in the file. Taking a deep breath as he scans through the photos, he takes in the images of the crime scene of her safe house. The camera had captured the still smoking pile of rubble and the black bags holding three bodies on the grass. Not wanting to imagine Chloe trying to escape that, he quickly clicks on the rest. News articles of the ‘gas explosion’, an obituary, and 2 months later a news article with a grainy image of Bob Hogan being taken into custody.
“Apparently, he was arrested. That would piss anyone off” Tony muses.
“Yeah, we need to call Harry.”
“Hopefully, he’ll know exactly who from Hogan’s mercenaries, is still alive and wanting revenge.”
Standing up, Jack stretches his limbs. Checking Tony’s IV and then Chloe’s, he unhooks the tubing, and tapes off Tony’s arm. Reaching down he helps him up off of the floor. “Steady now” He whispers when Tony visibly shakes with the effort of standing.
“I may have given her more than the liter I was planning…” Tony mutters.
Chuckling, Jack sits him on the bed beside Chloe and lets his hand rest against Tony’s cheek.
“You did a good thing Tony…” Grabbing him by the neck, he leans his forehead against the other man’s. “Now and then…” he says before standing.
Nodding, Tony motions him away with a wave of his hand. “Go call Pearce.”
Stepping onto the porch, Jack looks up at the night sky. Listening to the sounds of the woods, he slips his cell phone out of his pocket and dials.
“Pearce” A voice thick with sleep answers.
“Harry, it’s Jack.”
“Jack, it’s….2am..”
“Yeah, I know the time difference Pearce” He growls. “They’ve found her. Chloe…”
“What happened” Pearce’s voice now more alert, Jack can hear him click on a light.
“Shots fired, at least 2 hostiles at her home. I know we took out one when we drove off. I never got a look at the other.”
A hesitation before he hears “Did you say two?”
“Yeah. Who are we looking for Harry?”
“Over the last two years we have managed to clear out a gang called the Red-Backs that Bob Hogan used as mercenaries. Two of them have escaped capture.”
“They’ve made it here. How’d the hell did they find her?”
“I have no idea Jack. Melinda has been in hiding for years. Long enough and far enough away that we thought she was safe, wrongly apparently. How is she?”
Sitting down on the step to the porch, Jack lets his head fall into his hands. “She took a through and through to the shoulder. Tony and I have her at a safe house, but she’s still unconscious.”
“I’ll send you all I have on the two Red-Backs left. We only have a grainy image of one of them, Oliver Gacey. The other one, they call the ‘Mole’. He has a knack for getting into places he shouldn’t be. No pictures have ever been taken of him.”
“How soon can you send it?”
“Give me 20 minutes.”
“Will do”
“Hey Jack?”
“Yeah Harry?”
“Take care of her…”
“With my dying breath” Jack whispers and clicks end on the call. Standing, he walks back into the cabin, where he finds Tony, rifling through the two cabinets in the corner under a sink.
“Jack, over here…” He says when Tony hears him enter. When Jack walks up, he starts handing him bottles of water and packages of food. Standing back up and closing the cabinet, he takes a bottle of orange juice from Jack and downs it in two gulps.
“Gotta replenish” He says before tossing the empty container into the sink. “I don’t think she’ll need any more blood, but I have the feeling that whatever you’re about to tell me requires my energy.”
“You keep this place stocked?” Jack asks.
“I come up here one weekend a month to make sure the generator is full, and there’s food not expired, just in case.” Looking over at Chloe on the bed, he says “I was hoping none of this would be needed though.”
Coming to the history page, he begins reading about Chloe O’Brian. Or rather, according to the classified file he’s looking at “Melinda Rosalia De Bellis.
Birth: January 4, 1972 Vittoria, Sicily
Parents: Rosalia and Michael De Bellis
Religion: Greek Orthodox
Time Line:
May 1990: Enlisted Italian Air Force
Stationed: July 1990: Sigonella Naval Air Station
Scanning through the time line, seeing most of the page in Italian, Jack looks up at Tony “How good is your Italian?”
Letting out a low whistle, Tony shakes his head. “Rusty. I get the gist though...” He says scanning through the page.
“1994… sottotenente… That’s lieutenant I believe….1996 … injured in the line of duty…. gunshot to the back… yikes...”
Jack’s eyes narrow as he absorbs Tony’s words. “Chloe was in the military?” He asks, his voice showing his shock and looks behind him to the unconscious woman on the bed with new eyes.
“Yeah... it appears so. Looks like she...” He stops as he moves the curser down the page. “Yeah, here… Looks like she officially retired from the Italian Air Force after literally getting back on her feet and enrolled in college in 1997” Whistling again, Tony gave his head a quick shake and looks at Jack. “Our girl was recruited by the CIA a few months later.”
Scanning through the next few pages, Tony gives a run down to Jack as he hits on major points. “The next pages are basically a history of her military experience. Then after that is a few redacted CIA missions before she was sent as a liaison to MI5”
“What’s the most recent?’ Jack asks.
Tony continues scrolling through the pages. “Ahh English!”
They both hunch over the laptop as they read about De Bellis’ last mission with Mi5.
“Looks like this is what we need… Here... Bob Hogan… He’s the station chief Chloe mentioned to me” Jack tells Tony.
As he reads, Jack lets out a furious hiss. “She was green! Harry had no business sending her after Hogan!”
“That’s probably why he did it Jack. She’d be the last person Hogan expected. At least that’s the way it worked until she got back. Hogan must have had her under surveillance. As soon as he realized what was at stake, and what she knew, he ordered the hit.”
Reading, Jack gets to the last photographs in the file. Taking a deep breath as he scans through the photos, he takes in the images of the crime scene of her safe house. The camera had captured the still smoking pile of rubble and the black bags holding three bodies on the grass. Not wanting to imagine Chloe trying to escape that, he quickly clicks on the rest. News articles of the ‘gas explosion’, an obituary, and 2 months later a news article with a grainy image of Bob Hogan being taken into custody.
“Apparently, he was arrested. That would piss anyone off” Tony muses.
“Yeah, we need to call Harry.”
“Hopefully, he’ll know exactly who from Hogan’s mercenaries, is still alive and wanting revenge.”
Standing up, Jack stretches his limbs. Checking Tony’s IV and then Chloe’s, he unhooks the tubing, and tapes off Tony’s arm. Reaching down he helps him up off of the floor. “Steady now” He whispers when Tony visibly shakes with the effort of standing.
“I may have given her more than the liter I was planning…” Tony mutters.
Chuckling, Jack sits him on the bed beside Chloe and lets his hand rest against Tony’s cheek.
“You did a good thing Tony…” Grabbing him by the neck, he leans his forehead against the other man’s. “Now and then…” he says before standing.
Nodding, Tony motions him away with a wave of his hand. “Go call Pearce.”
Stepping onto the porch, Jack looks up at the night sky. Listening to the sounds of the woods, he slips his cell phone out of his pocket and dials.
“Pearce” A voice thick with sleep answers.
“Harry, it’s Jack.”
“Jack, it’s….2am..”
“Yeah, I know the time difference Pearce” He growls. “They’ve found her. Chloe…”
“What happened” Pearce’s voice now more alert, Jack can hear him click on a light.
“Shots fired, at least 2 hostiles at her home. I know we took out one when we drove off. I never got a look at the other.”
A hesitation before he hears “Did you say two?”
“Yeah. Who are we looking for Harry?”
“Over the last two years we have managed to clear out a gang called the Red-Backs that Bob Hogan used as mercenaries. Two of them have escaped capture.”
“They’ve made it here. How’d the hell did they find her?”
“I have no idea Jack. Melinda has been in hiding for years. Long enough and far enough away that we thought she was safe, wrongly apparently. How is she?”
Sitting down on the step to the porch, Jack lets his head fall into his hands. “She took a through and through to the shoulder. Tony and I have her at a safe house, but she’s still unconscious.”
“I’ll send you all I have on the two Red-Backs left. We only have a grainy image of one of them, Oliver Gacey. The other one, they call the ‘Mole’. He has a knack for getting into places he shouldn’t be. No pictures have ever been taken of him.”
“How soon can you send it?”
“Give me 20 minutes.”
“Will do”
“Hey Jack?”
“Yeah Harry?”
“Take care of her…”
“With my dying breath” Jack whispers and clicks end on the call. Standing, he walks back into the cabin, where he finds Tony, rifling through the two cabinets in the corner under a sink.
“Jack, over here…” He says when Tony hears him enter. When Jack walks up, he starts handing him bottles of water and packages of food. Standing back up and closing the cabinet, he takes a bottle of orange juice from Jack and downs it in two gulps.
“Gotta replenish” He says before tossing the empty container into the sink. “I don’t think she’ll need any more blood, but I have the feeling that whatever you’re about to tell me requires my energy.”
“You keep this place stocked?” Jack asks.
“I come up here one weekend a month to make sure the generator is full, and there’s food not expired, just in case.” Looking over at Chloe on the bed, he says “I was hoping none of this would be needed though.”