The following takes place between 7:00 am and 8:00 am. Events occur in real time.
Jack Bauer was behind Tony Almeida as they moved through the house. Their weapons were drawn and aimed out in front of them. They passed through the archway that led into the kitchen.
Chase was lying on the ground in a pool of his own cold blood. His face was pale and his death was close.
"We need a medic!" Jack screamed. One of the strike team members called it into a hand-held radio.
Jack knelt down next to Chase, his hand on his chest, feeling the slow rise of his rib-cage.
"Chase, can you hear me?" Jack asked. Tony was beside Jack.
"Jack maybe you should wait until the medic gets here…" Tony said. Jack ignored Tony.
"Chase? If you can hear me, blink!" Jack said. Chase was still, his eyes did not blink.
--- -
Drosnin led Kimberly Bauer into the small room. He pushed her in and she turned around to face him.
"Why are you doing this? That man blew up your friends!" Kimberly said.
"They weren't my friends. I don't have any friends." Drosnin said.
"So you're just going to be pushed around by her? Why don't you stand up for yourself?" Kimberly asked. Drosnin stood there and considered this for a moment.
"Don't do this Kim because it isn't going to work!" Drosnin said and turned. He closed the door and double bolted it behind him.
Kimberly stood in the solitary room. There was no conceivable way out besides the door that was locked.
--- -
Edgar was busy opening sockets when his computer froze. His tired eyes looked at the monitor in shock. He held down 'control', 'alt' and 'delete' but it was futile. The computer was frozen.
"Chloe, can you come here for a second?" Edgar called.
Chloe looked up from her desk and hurried over to Edgar's work-station.
"What is it Edgar? I'm very busy." Chloe said.
"Did your computer just freeze?" Edgar asked. Chloe shook her head. She looked at the monitor.
The monitor flashed, a big 'Q' appeared on the screen and suddenly text appeared under it:
"WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN YOU PUT FIVE NUCLEAR SECURITY TECHNICIANS AND 'SYNTHETIC ROMEO' TOGETHER?"
There was a pause. Edger and Chloe looked on as a large 'A' appeared.
Suddenly a video played. It was archived footage of a nuclear blast.
The file ended and Edgar's computer returned back to normal.
"What the hell was that?" Edgar asked.
"I don't know. Your computer was just hacked into. Somebody good." Chloe said.
"Do you think he's talking about the five tech heads that were kidnapped last night?" Edgar asked.
"It has to be them. They designed the software that firewalls America's nuclear weapons." Chloe said.
"Who is 'Synthetic Romeo'?" Edgar asked.
"Obviously a hacker. He must be behind their kidnapping." Chloe said.
"Whoever he is, he's claiming to have control of America's nuclear arsenal." Edgar said.
Edgar picked up the phone.
"What are you doing?" Chloe asked.
"I'm calling Alberta, she needs to hear about this." Edgar said.
"No. Don't." Chloe said, she looked away from Edgar.
"What? Why not?" Edgar asked. Chloe looked at Edgar.
"Just, not yet okay?" Chloe said. She moved in closer to him. "You need to promise me that you aren't going to tell Alberta about this." Chloe said.
"I can't do that! This is a matter of national…" Edgar said.
"I love you Edgar. Please?" Chloe asked. Edgar searched her eyes for an answer. He put the phone back down.
--- -
Chase was wheeled past Tony and Jack, who were standing outside the house. Jack watched as his son-in-law was put into the CTU Medic van. The on-sight diagnosis wasn't good. Chase was in critical condition, chances of his survival were slim.
Tony turned to Jack.
"Jack, I need to tell you something…" Tony said.
"What Tony?" Jack asked.
"About an hour ago I received a call from Nina Myers; she claimed to have Kimberly under her possession." Tony said.
"What?" Jack said.
"She said she was going to kill her unless I delivered you to a specific location." Tony said.
Jack lunged at Tony. Michelle ran up to try and break it off.
"Why didn't you tell me this?" Jack demanded. Tony pulled away from Jack's hold.
"I didn't know if she was telling the truth. I wanted to make sure that she really had Kimberly before I told you!" Tony said.
"That's unacceptable Tony! We're talking about my daughter here!" Jack said.
"I'm not going to apologize." Tony said. Jack turned away and faced the CTU van.
"Where is the drop off point?" Jack asked.
"The Rousch Dockside Warehouse." Tony said.
--- -
Chloe was typing at her computer. Her telephone rang. Chloe answered it.
"Chloe…" She answered.
"Chloe, it's Alberta Green. I want to see you in my office right now." Alberta said. Chloe was confused.
"I'll be right up." Chloe said. She hung up the phone.
Chloe stood up and walked towards the stairs of the central office. She walked up them.
Chloe knocked on the door and entered. She stopped suddenly when she saw Edgar sitting across from Alberta Green.
"Please, take a seat Chloe." Alberta Green said.
"What's this about?" Chloe asked.
"It's important Chloe, please sit down." Alberta said.
"I'm very busy, so if you could just tell me real quick I could get back to work." Chloe said.
"Sit down Chloe." Alberta said. Chloe sighed and took a seat. She flashed Edgar a look.
"Edgar has just brought to my attention an incident that occurred at his computer work station that you attempted to cover-up." Alberta said.
"What?" Chloe said. Edgar looked back at her guiltily.
"Now we don't have much time, so I'm going to make this simple. Why did you cover it up?" Alberta asked. Chloe could only sit there in silence.
--- -
Jack, Tony and Michelle sat in the back of a CTU van. The remaining members of the strike team were in another van en route to the dockside warehouse where the meeting was to take place. Another medical van was taking Chase to the CTU clinic where he would receive the best care available.
"Now Jack we can't force you to take part in this. If you want to go through with Nina Myer's plan you need to do it of your own free will." Tony said.
"I understand that Tony. I'm willing to do anything to keep my daughter alive." Jack said.
"That's great Jack but we're not just going to give you over because Nina demands it. The next time she rings we're going to negotiate with her." Tony said.
"What did you have in mind?" Michelle asked a little shocked that Tony was willing to negotiate with terrorists.
Tony glanced at his wife and returned his attention to Jack.
"We're going to trade Jack Bauer for Kimberly and the locations of the C4 hotspots around America." Tony said.
"So, essentially you're sacrificing Jack?" Michelle asked.
"Michelle, I'm not going to let thousands die just because Nina Myers wants revenge. I'm more than happy to trade myself for my daughter and an end to all of this. My only concern is why Nina would orchestrate all of this just to ensure my death." Jack said.
Tony sighed. Both Jack and Michelle turned to him.
"Jack, we cannot assume that Nina Myers wants you dead." Tony said.
"Then what does she want?" Jack asked.
"She wants revenge Jack. Revenge in the true sense of the word and quite frankly I don't think, in her mind, that killing you is enough." Tony said.
--- -
Kimberly Bauer was huddled in the corner of the small white room. She had cried bitterly for the past half an hour and now the tears were only just beginning to let up. The sound of the door opening made her look alive.
Michael Drosnin walked in carrying a steel cup of something that was steaming.
"What are you doing here?" Kimberly asked.
"I brought you some coffee." Drosnin said. Kimberly forced a smile.
"You're probably the nicest man that's abducted me." Kimberly said. Drosnin handed her the cup and she took it. She put it to her lips and sipped it a little.
Drosnin walked over and knelt down next to her.
"I just wanted to let you know that this wasn't personal. I have my own reasons for being involved in this and they have nothing to do with you." Drosnin said.
Kimberly smiled even though she felt like she had swallowed poison.
"Come here." She said. "I want to tell you a secret…" She whispered.
Drosnin leaned in closer.
Kimberly threw the cup in his face, the steaming coffee scalding him.
Kimberly jumped to her feet and kicked Drosnin hard in the groin.
Kimberly bent down and got Drosnin's gun from the holster underneath his jacket. She dropped down and put the gun to his head.
"Listen to me you twisted son-of-a-bitch. You killed my husband and there is no way I am ever going to forget that! I should blow your brains out all over this white room and if you so much as make a noise I will!" Kimberly said.
There was laughter from in front of her.
Kimberly looked up just in time to be shot with a bean-bag gun. She flew back against the wall and landed flat. The gun fell from her hand and bounced next to Drosnin.
General Rosenbaum, the shooter, helped Drosnin up.
"Don't trust her. She will do anything to get away." Rosenbaum said. Drosnin nodded and they both left the room, locking it behind them.
--- -
Alberta Green had jotted down all the information that Chloe had just given her, even though it was not really anything substantial. Alberta considered doodling on the pad but decided against it.
"This is taking too long Chloe. Just tell me why you decided it was appropriate to conceal a threat to US soil from the Counter Terrorism Unit." Alberta said.
"It was the name." Chloe finally admitted.
"What?" Alberta asked.
"Synthetic Romeo…" She said again.
"What about it?" Alberta asked.
"You've heard of him before?" Edgar asked. Chloe flashed him a look that reminded Edgar of a betrayed Bengal Tiger.
"I've met him." Chloe said.
"What do you mean? In a chat room?" Alberta asked.
"Synthetic Romeo is my father." Chloe said.
--- -
Jack, Tony and Michelle sat in silence on the ride to the dockside warehouse. Tony's cell phone rang aloud. Tony picked it up and looked at it.
"It's her." Tony said. Jack looked up.
Tony pushed a button and put the phone to his ear.
"Yeah?" He said and paused. "I'm sitting across from him." He said.
Tony held out the phone to Jack Bauer. Jack took the phone and put it to his ear.
"Nina?" Jack asked.
"Hello Jack; I've missed you." Nina Myers said. Jack shuddered. Before the phone call he had pushed her miraculous survival away but now he had to face the fact that she was still alive.
"Where is Kimberly?" Jack asked.
"All good things to those who wait…" Nina said.
"If you harm her in anyway, I will kill you Nina." Jack said.
"Like you did last time?" Nina asked.
"You better pray to God that we never meet Nina because if we ever do I promise you, my face will be the last one that you ever see!" Jack said.
"You're going to pull the van over at the next service station and then Tony, Michelle and your driver are going to get out. Then you are going to drive the van the rest of the way to the warehouse and come in alone." Nina said.
Jack couldn't speak.
"I worked with CTU, I know how this sort of thing goes down and if I so much as smell Tony's bad cologne I'm going to kill her. Do you understand me Jack?" Nina asked.
"Yes." Jack said.
"Good." Nina said.
"Now you listen to me! You're going to bring her to the warehouse and let her go. When she reaches Tony and calls me off his cell phone I'll come into your custody. That's how it's going to work!" Jack said.
Nina Myers laughed.
"I'm afraid you're in no position to make any demands Jack." Nina said.
"Then I'm walking away." Jack said.
"I don't believe that for a second Jack." Nina said. "Do me a favour and hurry up will you? We don't want to be late for the party." Nina said. The line went dead.
Jack looked down at the floor and suddenly wanted to throw up.
7:59:57…58…59…8:00:00
