11.10am, CTU Los Angeles

Jack was in his office, having called a meeting with Tony and Gael, the other two people involved in their secret sting operation. It had taken them a while to convince Gael of the reliving a day theory, and the fact that Gael would have been been caught and tortured for his part in the mission helped a lot. Tony had been alerted to the fact that he would have been shot in the neck in the original day, and Jack knew that he had to make sure that Claudia did not die.

"So this all ends with an interrogation that goes wrong, and with you killing Nina?," Tony asked Jack. Alex had told them about Tony's interrogation of Nina that led to her being tortured, and the fake suicide attempt. Although the idea of throwing their head into a sharp needle in order to pierce the carotid sounded gruesome, both Jack and Tony knew that it would not be too out there for Nina, especially if it could offer her a chance to escape once more.

"I think we need to inform President Palmer soon, so that we can mobilise tac teams and send them into Mexico, to secure the meeting place. That way, they can be there to capture Nina, Amador and the Salazar brothers," Jack asked, as he leafed through the couple of pages of events that Alex had written down for them.

11.25am American Airways LAX2424

Tru had been asleep for the past 30 minutes, but Jack Harper soon put an end to her slumber by sitting down next to her and tapping her shoulder. Groaning as she woke and saw his grinning face, Tru wondered how much longer the flight was going to take.

"I'm going to assume you already knew I was on board, Tru," Jack Harper said.

"Yeah, but I decided not to disturb you. Seems that I like you more when you're not awake," Tru replied.

"How are you going to get into CTU yourselves, Tru? I'm sure they don't give free passes to family," Jack smirked. He knew that he was going to find it close to impossible to maintain fate, but was hoping that the inexperience of Tru's cousin would give him a slight advantage.

"I'm going to assume that they'll let me in. If not, I can always phone Alex and he can come out and meet me outside of the building. Either way, I'm going to help him save his sister," Tru told him. Nodding, Jack went back to his seat. He knew that Tru wasn't giving to give much away, so he had to rely on every small bit of information he could get from her.

11.30am, CTU Los Angeles

Alex had now joined Jack, Tony and Gael in Jack's office in order to clarify anything he had written down that they might misunderstand. He realised that as they had been given a second chance to live the day, that he should take it and tell the truth about an event that had happened some years before.

"Jack, I have to tell you something about Nina," Alex spoke, and the room went deathly silent. He could feel three pairs of eyes staring at him.

"What about Nina?," Jack asked. He had no idea what Alex was going to tell him, but hoped that it had nothing to do with his family, or any bombshells that would affect CTU in the future.

"You remember the time I went to visit her in Tunisia, and I got caught up in an explosion? It turned out to be a distraction in order to let Nina escape. I knew the same day, but asked the people there not to tell CTU. I felt that it was best for you not to know," Alex spoke, whilst trying to gauge what Jack's reaction would be. Jack himself was silent for a moment, before asking Tony and Gael to leave the room. When they had left, Jack looked at Alex.

"Did you tell me this yesterday?," Jack asked, and Alex wondered if it would be better to lie or to tell the truth, but he had no idea which Jack would prefer.

"No, I didn't Jack, but now we have a second chance to live this day over, I felt that you deserved to know," Alex replied. Jack looked disappointed at this, and Alex wondered if the revelation had hurt him on the inside.

"Would you have ever told me?," Jack asked, and Alex had to consider his answer. He had thought that Nina would never be seen again by CTU, or be involved in anything involving the agency, but now he knew that it was almost her, and Jack's, destiny to be reunited time and time again until one of them killed the other.

"Probably, Jack, yes," Alex told him truthfully. He knew that he had let Jack down, and he could see the look of betrayal in his eyes. Jack sighed.

"Why was the last thing that you remember Nina's death?," Jack asked, referring to the original day before the rewind. Alex was surprised by the question, but he knew that it was going to be asked eventually.

"She asked me for my help, Jack. That's what happens, someone dies and they ask Tru, or in case me, for help. The day rewinds and then you try to save them," Alex replied. Jack looked at him, before chuckling.

"Nina asked for your help? Why bother? I mean, her life was shit, and I know that if she got another chance at life, she would only screw up again," Jack remarked bitterly.

"Noone asks for help voluntarily, Jack, they're dead. I'm not sure why they ask for help, but it's often because they died unnatural deaths. You won't find someone who died peacefully in their bed asking for help, because they are at peace," Alex told him. He was hoping that if they saved Nina, perhaps there would be a real reason for it.

"OK, so say I let Nina live. She's only going to be going to jail with the possibility of being executed. Now, I'm sure she isn't nostalgic for prison food and cells, so I'm assuming that we, and her, will get something out of this?," Jack asked.

"I can't promise anything, Jack," Alex replied. He hoped that Tru would get to LA soon, and that she would know enough about the rewind days to give Jack some sort of answer.

1.40pm (Mexico City time), hotel in Mexico City, Mexico

Nina sighed as she looked out of the window onto the busy street below. It was winter, but still fairly hot in the Mexican capital. Taking a drink from a bottle of water, she turned around and walked into the bathroom. Looking at herself in the mirror, she noticed just how much her appearance had changed over the past few years. Her dark hair was now much longer, just reaching her shoulders, whilst her eyes were weary and tired, looking much older than her 33 years would suggest. Her skin had managed to tan slightly, and her face was not as skeletal as it used to be. She was waiting for Cale and the others to get the cars, before they would set off north to Las Nieves, in the central Durango state of Mexico. There they would take part in an auction for the much sought after Cordilla virus. She had been apprehensive about this mission, as she knew that her employees were very likely to use it to mass murder civilians. Although she had been indirectly involved in such plots before, including the nuke in Los Angeles and the bombs that blew up CTU, she knew that it wasn't what she wanted to do with her life. Terrorism had once seemed like an exiting career, something he could make a lot of money out of, and now she was nothing more than a middleman for a much bigger fish in the terrorism oceans. Hearing car horns outside, she went up to the window and peered out. Noticing Cale looking up at her from one of the black SUVs, she gestured that she was coming. As she left the room, she felt a chill run down her spine. Not being a superstitious person, she would normally think nothing of it, but this time, she felt as if her life was sand in a hourglass.

11.45am, CTU Los Angeles

Alex had been sat in Jack's office alone for the past ten minutes ever since Jack had left to talk to Kim about Nina. He had asked Jack not to mention that in the original day, that Kim would be close to being shot by Nina, and Jack had assured him he would only give her the most basic details. As Jack came back in, Alex watched him return to his seat.

"How did she take it?," Alex asked. He had watched Jack talk to Kim from Jack's office, but had not been able to see Kim's reaction.

"Not well, but I've assured her that CTU are close to apprehending her," Jack replied, as he looked down at his daughter. Her eyes had welled up, but Jack had managed to keep her calm.

"I'm sorry, Jack, I should have told you back then," Alex told him, his voice regretful. He had kept the news away from Jack and Kim in order to protect them, not for them to suddenly find out years later when they were only just beginning to truly get over Teri's death.

"You should have, Alex, but I suppose I can understand why you didn't," Jack replied. He was angry at Alex for not at least telling him in private, so that he could have had the chance to tell Kim earlier. Alex stood up and was about to leave, but stopped.

"Jack, if this was the day Teri died, or the day Mason died, I would be trying even harder to save them, but I didn't even know that my cousin was able to do this. I don't even think she knew back then," Alex told him. He knew that a lot of people had died on those two days – Walsh, Jamey, Paula, Mason were just a few of the people he would have tried to save if he could – and wondered why it was only now that he had been able to relive a day. He also wondered if he was going to keep this ability, or if it would just vanish as mysteriously as it came.

"I know, Alex. I'm sure everyone has a day or two that they want to relive in order to save someone who went too soon," Jack replied.

Kim was now staring at her screen, trying hard not to cry. Her mother's killer was on the loose, and she couldn't do anything about it. Her father seemed to be keeping some details away from her, and she wondered if Nina was in Los Angeles, or at least close by, but then she reasoned that her father had asked her to leave at the usual time no matter what. She considered the possibility that CTU were going to arrest her today, and that they would only bring her to CTU after she left. Deciding to go along with her father's wishes, she told herself to leave at 5pm and no later. If they did bring Nina into CTU, she didn't want to have to see her. Looking up at her father's office, she saw Alex walking out of it. Standing up, she walked towards him.

"Alex, are they going to arrest her?," Kim asked as he reached the bottom of the stairs. Alex knew that he couldn't tell her too much.

"Maybe, Kim. They think they might have in custody tonight, but your dad thinks that it's best if you leave at the normal time," Alex replied. He knew what had happened the night before, when Nina had been marched past Kim. Their eyes had met, and Alex could see the mixture of hate and fear in Kim's eyes, and he knew that he didn't want to put her through that again.

"If they do, will someone at least call me? I want to know," Kim asked, her eyes still tearful. It usually took about seven years to get over the death of a parent, and it had only been about four or five since her mother's murder. Alex nodded.

"As soon as we do, I promise," Alex replied. He knew that Nina was expected back at CTU at around 2am, so assumed that Kim would be asleep by then, but if they call her cell, it would most likely go to voice mail, so that she wouldn't be disturbed. That way, they could get Nina into custody and out of CTU before the morning.

2.00pm (Mexico City time), road outside Mexico City

Nina was busy talking to her employer on her cell, explaining that they were on their way to Las Nieves, and that they were on schedule. The auction was to take place at night, in a deserted are well away from prying eyes. Although she had only met Amador once, she had done so much research on him that it was if she had known him for years. He was a British arms dealer, fluent in many languages and known to be arrogant. Nina didn't know who the other party would be, although she assumed that few legitimate parties would be interested in buying a virus from an international criminal. Nina's life for the past few years had consisted mostly of flying around the Americas – excluding the United States, of course – and she had grown confident that CTU had no idea about her escape. She had not expected Alex to tell them as soon as he found out, and was pleased to know that he had indeed seemed to have kept quiet about it.

12.00pm, CTU Los Angeles

Michelle was glad to have a few minutes alone with Tony in his office, and the pair were in deep conversation. Tony had told her about what had happened the night before, and although she was sceptical of the rewind theory, she decided that it couldn't hurt to go along with it and see if it was indeed true.

"Alex tells me that after I got shot, you did great in my place. You took charge and you kept CTU going. I want you to know I'm proud of you, Michelle," Tony spoke, smiling. He was certainly glad that he wouldn't be getting shot this time around if they could help it, but he was also disappointed that Michelle's few hours in charge would probably not go ahead as they did.

"I'm sure I did, Tony, but I don't want you to nearly get killed for me to have that chance," Michelle replied. She wondered how Alex had come up with such a story, and wondered what it would take for her to believe in him.

12.15pm, a road in Los Angeles

As the car drove through the sun baked streets, the passenger in the back seat wiped his brow. Los Angeles didn't have seasons like his country, and it seemed like even the hottest of heat waves during summer couldn't compete with Los Angeles sometimes. Checking the time, Stephen Saunders decided that he had plenty of time to get some sleep at the hotel. It was going to be a very busy day for him tomorrow, and he had to be up very early in order to put his plan into action.

12.25pm, CTU Los Angeles

Chloe smiled slightly as she found the information she had been looking for. Noticing Jack close by, she got his attention, before showing him passport details of a Sarah Berkeley.

"She flew into Mexico City from Bogotá this morning, Jack," Chloe informed him. His eyes were glued to her face.

"That's her. That's Nina," Jack replied. His belief in the rewind day had just gotten a whole lot stronger.