I posted this on the 24 message board. They seemed to like it, but not enough people were reading.

Tell me what you think!

The Following Takes Place Between 4:00a.m. and 5:00a.m.

Events Occur in Real Time

Beijing, China

4:00:01p.m. local time

Sally Chan, one of the top advisors to the President of China sat at her desk, tired from the long day. Before almost falling asleep, her phone rang.

She quickly lifted her head from her desk and blinked her eyes a few times. "Sally Chan," she yawned into the phone. As she listened to what the person on the other end had to say, her face turned from a tired expression to one of worry.

"I'll notify the President immediately." She jumped up from her seat and ran across the hall to see the President, who appeared to be just as tired as she had been.

"Mr. President," she began, out of breath. "They have found a member alive. We were right about today."

The President stood there not moving, with a look of shock on his face.

Los Angeles, California

4:02:09 a.m.

Jack Bauer laid in his jail cell wishing he were dead. Ten years ago, he would have never imagined he would be in this situation. He sat up and looked down the hall to make sure no one was watching. After walking to the other side of the small room, he lifted his "bed," and underneath was a small box, and after opening it, Jack saw the familiar picture of his dead wife and his daughter. He picked up the picture, but instead of putting it closer to his face to look at it, he tossed the picture aside as if it didn't matter. Underneath it was what mattered. The small bag of pot he had smuggled in two days before.

"You are what I live for," Jack said as he took it out of the box.

4:03:37

Frank Nixon sat up on the edge of his bed, as he had been doing all night.

"Just try to get some sleep," his wife told him, knowing he had to go to work in a few hours.

"No. You know I won't be able to. You haven't slept either. We've gone through this seven times already. I know how this works. I'll have a tough day at work today, come home tonight, and go right to bed. That's what happens every August 15th."

His wife didn't respond, knowing it would be of now help.

"We have to move," Frank said to himself, although his wife could hear.

"You're right. Too many memories."

"Out of the state. Across the country."

"What?" she shouted.

"I don't want to be anywhere near here, and I want to leave my job."

"Think about that Frank. This was all you've ever wanted to do. That's what you've always told me."

"Not anymore."

Counter Terrorist Unit, Los Angeles

4:05:16

Tina Towers walked into CTU Los Angeles, ready for a full day of work. As she passed her favorite co-workers, she smiled at them and gave them a simple, "Hi." When she neared the stairs leading up to her office, one of the Director of CTU's least favorites came rushing up to her.

"What is it Chloe?"

"Peter Bernard from NSA is on line 2. He says it's urgent."

"Thank you." She turned her head and stepped up the stairs into her office and picked up the phone.

"Towers, CTU," she answered.

Meanwhile downstairs, Chloe had walked past her desk and approached Edgar Stiles, one of her best friends.

"Edgar, do you have the information about the President's security ready? They're going to want it soon."

Edgar looked up from his computer. "It'll be ready in a minute."

"Get it," Chloe said as she turned around and walked away. As she approached her desk, her phone rang.

"CTU O'Brien," She answered.

"Chloe, it's Tina. Call everyone in now!"

"Uh… what-"

"Just do it Chloe," she yelled before hanging up.

4:08:20

Frank Nixon had abandoned his bed and was now standing and pacing across the room while his wife finally got up as well.

"You're right. It's no use trying," she said to Frank.

"Yeah."

"I'm gonna go make some coffee."

"I'll be there in a minute," Frank told her as he continued pacing. He kept walking for several more seconds before the phone rang, an unusual event for the early hour.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Frank, it's Chloe. I know you're not supposed to be in until seven, but we need you here now. Something's come up."

"What?"

"I don't know. Tina's going to brief us all when everyone's here."

"I'll be there soon."

"You'll be here as fast as you can," Chloe told him as she put the phone down.

Frank, feeling somewhat surprised went to his closet and quickly grabbed the first suit he could find and rushed into the bathroom and began to put them on, skipping the shower portion of his morning.

4:09:56

4:14:50

Edgar had had his phone in his hand for the past few minutes and was trying to get through to the President. Finally, on his eighth attempt, he got an answer.

"Hello?"

"Hello, this is Edgar Stiles at CTU, who is this?"

"This is Leo Richards, Special Advisor to the President of the United States."

"Director Tina Towers needs to speak with him now!" Edgar half-yelled.

"Um… He's still in his room. I haven't seen him yet today."

"I don't care. There's been an emergency, she needs to speak with him now!"

"Hold on."

As he was waiting, he pressed a button on his phone and began talking to Tina.

"He'll be on line 2 Ms. Towers."

"Thank you Edgar," was her reply as she switched to line 2 and waited for the President.

"This is President Logan, is this Ms. Tina Towers?" he asked.

"Yes Mr. President, I'm sorry for waking you up so early."

"What's going on Tina?"

"Mr. President, NSA just called. They couldn't get in touch with you so they called us first. They have evidence that suggest a potential terrorist attack in the United States sometime today. Because of the trial today and the fact what happened five years ago was here in Los Angeles, we think L.A. is the target."

There was silence for a moment, then, "What do you have so far?"

"Not much. We just found out and thought we should call you first. I don't think you should go to the trial."

"It's not a simple as that, Tina," President Logan said politely. "I can't just 'not go' to one of the biggest trials in this nations history."

"Mr. President, I know it's not my job to give you my opinions, but I think you're making a mistake."

"I appreciate your concerns, but my mind will not be changed."

"Then can I suggest you remain vigilant and tighten your security."

"Of course, Ms. Towers."

Downstairs, Chloe was now looking at the one small clue they had. It was a file pulled off the suspects computer. One he had forgotten to delete. It was written in Chinese, but once it was translated, it made no sense. It was just numbers and symbols, some of which Chloe had never even seen before. She knew it would take hours to decode.

4:19:14

President Logan did not expect to be woken up to hear such alarming news. He knew if there was going to be an attack it would be in Los Angeles, especially on the day of the trial of Jack Bauer. He was seated at a table in his hotel room with Secret Service Agent Leo Richards across from him.

"Obviously we have to listen to Ms. Towers and tighten up security," Logan said.

Richards hesitated. "Um… Sir, I recommend you don't go to the trial. It's too much of a risk."

Logan didn't even think about his response. "I'm sorry Leo, that's not an option."

Knowing he wouldn't be able to convince the President, Richards thought of what to do. "I just spoke to Mike Novick. He's going to call Bill Reynolds and get him on a flight out here. I thought it would be good to have him around on a day like today."

"Thank you."

"Increasing security won't be too hard. LAPD has a few people they can give us and we can move a couple of men from the hotel to the trial. We will make sure no one gets in unnoticed."

"That's comforting to know, but obviously we can't put all everything we have at this one trial. For all we know it could just be a coincidence."

"You're right, we will remain careful around the city and country. I think you should raise the terror alert level obviously."

"Of course," Logan said remembering he was still in his nightclothes. "Now I would like to get dressed and maybe enjoy some sort of breakfast."

Leo Richards then got up and exited the room.

4:22:05

4:26:19

Frank sat in his car trying to forget about the terrible day it was. As sad as he was however, he knew it would only get worse as the day went on. As a small tear began to come down his face, his cell phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Frank, what the hell are you doing?" his wife shouted at him. "Where are you?"

Realizing he forgot to tell his wife he was leaving early, he quickly told her, "Chloe called me in. I had to hurry. Sorry."

"Oh, of course you're sorry," she said sarcastically. "This is a tough day for both of us Frank, I'd appreciate it if you thought of me!"

"I'm sorry!"

"No you're not! You're just saying that!"

"No! I-" The dial tone cut Frank off as he realized she hung up on him. As he tossed his phone onto the passenger's seat, he saw the CTU building off in the distance.

4:28:43

While Frank was nearing CTU, the rest of the staff was seated around a large table with Tina standing in the front.

"I was going to wait for Frank to arrive, but because he is taking his time in getting here, I'll start now."

Chloe glared at her. "I just called him! Why don't you give him a chance?"

"Because Chloe, I don't know how you interpret this situation, but I don't find it a good thing. It would help if we had everyone."

"It would help if we knew anything about it! You send this thing to my screen and I have no idea what it is but you expect me to tell you what it says? I don't even know what it's for!"

Just as Tina was about to continue the argument, Frank came running through the door. "I'm here!" he yelled as he tried to catch his breath.

Tina ignored him and began explaining herself. "Early this morning, China arrested a man suspected to be working with a Chinese Terrorist Organization. They have no official name and they seem to be new, but they were discovered about a year ago when they took credit for a bombing in Hong Kong. This man gave up no information, but after raiding his house, police did find a few things. Our intelligence suggests they may be planning an attack against the United States today. Because of the significance of this day and because this is the city the incident happened in five years ago, Los Angeles seems like the most likely target."

"Do we know what kind of attack?" Frank asked.

"If we did, I would have said so, Frank. But because we don't know much about them or what they're capable of, it could be anything."

Edgar, who was seated next to Frank shook his head.

"What is it Edgar?"

"Normally we would have someone dependable here who-"

"What do you call all of-" Tina hesitated. "Most of these people here?"

"No. I mean someone-"

"He means Jack!" Chloe interrupted.

"Well Jack decided to take the cowards way out and run to Mexico Chloe, thanks to the help of some people," she began, knowing Chloe had something to do with Jack's escape. "And we've decided to bring in smarter people instead."

Chloe couldn't help but laugh.

"Is something funny?"

"No."

"Good. Chloe, you continue with your work, everyone else, get to work!" Everyone immediately got up and rushed out of the room.

NSA Headquarters, Fort Meade, Maryland

4:32:37

Head of NSA Peter Bernard was now trying to talk the President out of attending the trial. "You do understand the risks?"

Already, Logan was getting tired of this. "I do, but this is the trial of one of the greatest hero's in this countries history!"

"That's exactly why this shouldn't happen. What if something were to happen to him and the country finds out you knew about it first?"

"I'm going to take that risk!" The President yelled. "This conversation is over."

Bernard was surprised their conversation ended so quickly. As he looked around his small office, he thought to himself for a moment. "There had to be a way around losing one of the great hero's in this countries history. Sending him to court would absolutely put his life in danger." Different solutions quickly began to run through his mind until his eyes went from closed to wide open at the thought of one of them.

4:34:25

4:38:46

Li Wang sat in his car in front of a large office building looking at the front door ahead of him. When he noticed no one was watching, he got out and walked to the door. He then took out an ID card with the picture of someone who looked nothing like him as well as the name Jacob Hughes written on it. When he put the stolen card through the slot next to the door he heard a click noise that showed the door had unlocked. He walked into the empty lobby then into an elevator and pressed the fourth floor button. Then after the door opened, he got out and walked down the hall to the office of Jacob Hughes. Upon entering, he saw exactly what he was looking for placed on his desk. He picked up the stack of papers and left the room, walking toward the elevator to make his escape.

4:41:50

Jack continued to hold the pot in his hand, wanting to enjoy it more and more every minute. As much as he wanted to however, he couldn't. Despite what he wanted, he would be forced to leave soon for a trial he wanted nothing to do with and had made no effort whatsoever to prepare for. Just as he couldn't take it any longer, he heard footsteps approaching and threw the bag behind him. Looking up, he saw his lawyer standing there looking at him. Jack ignored the man.

"Jack, you know you have to do this. You haven't done shit yet, and I just came to see if you wanted to make some effort to help yourself." He gave Jack a minute to respond, and when he didn't, the lawyer continued. "You are the first person I've ever tried to defend that refused to help at all. You wouldn't care if you rotted in here the rest of your life or if you were even killed."

"That's right," Jack answered, breaking his silence.

The lawyer shook his head. "The trial starts at eight, be ready to leave in a couple of hours."

"I'm not leaving this cell," Jack replied as the lawyer began to walk away.

4:43:02

Wang was now driving away from the building he was just at. He needed to get to his next destination on time or he would be in trouble. Unfortunately, his speed was just a little too high and a police officer pulled him over.

"License and registration," Wang said before the officer could.

"Yeah," the officer said, not amused.

He pulled out his wallet and handed him his license.

"Do you have any idea how fast you were going?"

"No," Wang started. "Listen, I have to go can we please hurry this up?"

"It'll take as long as it takes."

"That's not going to work." Wang then slammed on the gas, knocking the cop to the ground and sped down the street.

4:45:39

"How's it going?" Curtis Manning asked Chloe, who was still at her computer.

"Oh," she said, turning to look at him. "I was just about to call you. I got an address off of here. It's not too far, I thought you and Frank should check it out. It's a small building, I don't know what it's used for."

Curtis quickly wrote down the address she was pointing to. "We'll leave soon." He then walked off to find Frank, who was seated on the side of the room on a bench.

"What are you doing?" Curtis asked.

"Huh?" Frank asked, as he lifted his head up from his hands, surprised. "Nothing."

"What are you thinking about?"

"Sorry. This is just a bad day for me."

"Well Frank, I don't think I have to tell you that it's getting worse." Curtis paused. "Chloe gave us an address to check out. I think we should."

"Yeah. Okay." Frank got up and walked with Curtis to the door so they could leave.

4:47:26

Peter Bernard had already decided on the action he was going to take to save the life of Jack Bauer. It would be hard to do and if he was caught, he would absolutely be arrested, but it had to be done. Losing Jack Bauer was not an option.

"I better get started," he whispered to himself. "Bauer won't be in that prison forever." Bernard then picked up a phone and began dialing as his friend and co-worker Kevin Nelson approached his office and waited outside for him to finish on the phone. Before long, Kevin heard Bernard begin to yell. After a couple of seconds, he could completely hear the end of the conversation.

"I don't care what you are doing, I want you to stop it and do what I asked!"

This was followed by a short pause so the other person could speak.

"You work for me. I tell you what to do! Now do it!" Bernard the slammed down the phone and walked out the door of his office, not noticing Kevin, who was so surprised by what he heard, he felt the need to investigate. When Bernard was far enough down the hall so he wouldn't notice his door opening, Kevin opened it and went inside to see who he was calling. It didn't take long to figure out the call was to a prison outside of Los Angeles.

4:49:03

4:53:29

Li Wang was already inside the small building and was walking across the room to the set of lockers on the other end. When he reached them, he opened one of them and took out two briefcases. Immediately after, the phone on the side of the last locker to the right rang.

"Got it," he answered.

"Good. But we have a problem," the voice on the other end replied.

"What is it?"

"A car is approaching the building. Take care of it."

"Of course I will."

"Good. Then meet me at the meeting spot in an hour. Get it done. No mistakes."

"That's what you hired me for," Wang replied as he hung up, then walked out the door and into the parking lot, where he stopped and looked around. No car was visible, so he decided to what in the woods adjacent to the parking lot. He told his boss he would take care of the car, so he opened one of the briefcases and took out the rifle inside, waiting for the car to approach, which it soon did.

4:56:29

Curtis and Frank sat in the parking lot not moving. Curtis had something to ask first.

"So are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

"It's really a long story Curtis, I don't know if now's the time."

"Just tell me Frank."

"Today is the seven year anniversary of my daughter's death. She was sixteen."

Curtis obviously didn't expect something like that, so he hesitated before replying. "Oh… I'm sorry. I didn't know." Curtis waited again. "Listen Frank, if this is going to affect your work-"

"It won't, Curtis."

"Are you sure? Because it just wasn't today. You've been different for a while now, and I think it might be affecting your work. There's something else isn't there."

Frank nodded. "Let's just check this place out."

The two got out of the car without saying a word. They both closed their doors and started walking toward the building.

4:58:07

His gun was at the ready and he was aimed at the two strangers who got out of the car. He was about to shoot when the one on the left bent down and distracted him. When he stood up, the two were about half way to the building and he knew he had to hurry.

4:59:00

Jack Bauer sat in his cell making no effort to do what his lawyer had asked. Instead he took his head from his hands and closed his eyes.

Peter Bernard was once again in his office sitting down while Kevin Nelson stood in the hallway wondering what to think about what he saw.

President Logan had finished his breakfast and was adjusting his tie, ready to begin his day.

"The door's probably open," Frank said as he continued to step closer.

"Why," Curtis asked, but he stopped his questioning when he heard something. "Did you hear that?"

"No. What?"

"Just something from the-"

Curtis stopped in mid-sentence as Wang, who had re-aimed was ready to shoot took a deep breath. "Okay," he said, then fired his weapon.

5:00:00