"Did you see this?" Jack asked as Tony came to stand beside him.

The other agent looked up at the row of TVs that were hanging on the wall in front of them. Multiple news channels were on, but they were all showing the same scene. A building lay behind them, piles of debris scattered about. Tony frowned as he tried to piece together what was happening.

"Explosion," Jack supplied.

"But the building is still standing. There's no fire."

"The explosion was underground."

"Where's the sense in that?"

Jack shrugged. "They haven't been able to get down there yet, so they don't know if there was a target, or if someone was trying to get to the building and didn't quite make it."

"Is there anything inside? The building, I mean."

"No. Empty warehouse."

"Then I don't think that was the target." He looked around. "Is this on our radar?"

"Not yet. Until a target is identified, we can't say it was terrorism."

Tony nodded. "Alright then, I'm going to go back in to talk to Reza."

"Have you gotten anything yet?"

"Not really. He's still asserting his innocence. And I gotta tell you Jack, he's pretty damn convincing. Did you get anything out of the Warners?"

"The father claims to be a CIA consultant. We're checking up on that now. The daughter is full of righteous indignation that we've turned our focus onto them and off of Reza. She admits to being the one who called the private investigator that got this whole thing rolling. Said he was acting suspicious."

Tony shrugged. "Maybe she just didn't think he was good enough for her sister to marry."

"I don't think so," Jack said. "I don't get that feeling from her. She's seriously spooked."

"Give it another try and then we'll switch?"

Jack nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

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It took a lot of effort for Miguel to keep the car going the speed limit. His entire being urged him to go faster – to get away from Megan's father, and away from the impending doom that was hulking over the city of Los Angeles. But he knew that speeding was the worst thing that he could do. It would attract attention, and they ran the possibility of getting pulled over. And that was something that they needed to avoid at all costs.

Kim sat beside him, staring straight ahead. Her face was pale and her lips were pursed into a thin pink line. She reached one arm out behind her, clutching Megan's hand as they headed out of the city. No one spoke.

They were within sight of the city limits when blue and red lights began flashing in the rearview mirror. For a split second, Miguel thought about slamming his foot down on the gas and gaining whatever lead he could. But he knew that the cops were allowed to hunt you down across city lines if they caught you breaking the law on their side. And evading a police officer definitely counted as breaking the law. With a worried glance at Kim, he pulled the car over to the side of the road and turned off the engine.

Rolling the window down, he glanced up at the police officer that had walked up to his side of the car.

"Can I help you, Officer?" he asked.

The man smiled at him.

"Did you know you have a taillight out?"

Miguel almost burst out into relieved laughter.

"No, sir, I didn't."

"It's on the left side."

"Thank you. I'll get that fixed right away."

"I still need to see your license and registration."

"Right. Of course."

He tried to stay calm as he pulled out his driver's license and Kim rifled through the glove compartment to find the registration. When he handed them over to the cop, the man turned and began walking back towards his cruiser, and Miguel looked at Kim, fear evident in his eyes.

"If Gary's reported this car stolen, Kim, we aren't going to be able to explain our way out of it."

"We'll just tell him that I work for Gary and he lets me use the car when I need to."

"Yeah, like that will work –"

He stopped talking when he saw that the cop was turning around and walking back to him. He had only made it so far as the trunk, and the feeling in the pit of Miguel's stomach told him that something was very wrong.

"Will you please step out of the car, sir?" the cop asked. "And pop the trunk as well."

Miguel nodded, hoping that his hands would stop shaking long enough for him to deal with this so that they could be on their way. He pushed the button for the trunk and then opened the door to get out, leaving the keys in the ignition. Following the officer, he walked back to the trunk.

Slowly, the cop opened the trunk, and Miguel felt the entire world beneath him shift violently. Staring up at him was the lifeless body of Carla Matheson, her neck twisted at an obscene angle and blood streaking down her pale face. Bile rose in his throat, and he was suddenly afraid that he would vomit all over the officer's shoes.

Looking up, it was then that he realized the cop had pulled his weapon and was pointing it at him.

"Get down on the ground," he said firmly. "Down on the ground!"

Numbly, he raised his hands to show that he was cooperating, and he began to sink to his knees. His eyes roamed everywhere, desperately searching for something that would explain all of this, that would bring the world back to order. But instead his gaze rested on Kim and Megan, staring at him through the back window, terror etched across their features. It was then that his ears latched onto the officer's voice, and he listened to him calling for backup. A couple minutes and this would all be over – he and Kim would be in jail, and they would all die when the nuclear bomb went off.

He didn't even realize he was moving until he made contact with the other man. Slamming his shoulder into the man's diaphragm, he mowed him down, taking him to the ground. He straddled him, pinning down his arms and legs, trying to hold on to his meager advantage as long as he could. Looking up, his eyes found Kim's again.

"GO!" he bellowed. "Now! Go!"

She stared at him for a only a second before launching herself into the driver's seat and starting the car. Miguel had to admit that he was hurt by how quick she was to abandon him, but then his eyes rested on Megan, and he knew that this wasn't about him. Kim was going to do whatever it took to get that little girl to safety, and she wasn't about to let anybody stand in her way.

He felt a fist collide with his jaw just as the car pulled away.

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"Yes?"

"It's done."

"Connelly is taken care of? You're sure?"

"Her and Dessler. The charges went off just as planned."

"Good."

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Rayburn hung up the phone and walked back into the situation room, the President and the Joint Chiefs gathering for another meeting.

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Nina squinted in the sunlight and fished out her sunglasses. The courtyard she was sitting in was crowded at that time of day, with teenagers and parents coming in and out of the mall, most laden down with heavy bags. A cold smile crept onto her face as she watched them scurry back and forth, none of them having any clue about what was waiting for them later in the day. She'd be surprised if a single one of them survived to see another day. But what the initial blast didn't kill, the radiation sickness would take care of. Nina almost pitied them – that would be the worst way to go.

Staring down at the phone in her hands, she let her mind drift back to Rayburn. Deep down, she loathed the man, and she thought his motives were childish and his tactics essentially ineffective. He thought he was getting rid of those who were standing in his way of politic power. When what he was actually doing was helping to set the stage for what history would later call the greatest disaster the world had ever seen.

Her cell phone rang then, and she looked down at it with a frown. It was a blocked number, and she wasn't expecting any calls for another couple hours.

"Yes?" she answered.

"Nina…it's been too long."

She felt a smile overcome her.

"Tariq…you're right. I was starting to think you had disappeared."

"I needed to lie low for awhile, until the authorities relaxed their grip just a little on my men."

"And now?"

"Now I'm free to do as I wish." He paused. "I have a sneaking suspicion that you're involved with what's going on today in Los Angeles, my love."

"Now why would you think that?"

"Because I've been talking with Sayed Ali. You could say I'm his right-hand man for the moment."

"I thought you and Sayed hated each other."

"Animosities can be put aside for momentous time such as these. Temporarily, at least. I have a job for you."

"I'm a little busy."

He chuckled. "Don't lie to me Nina. I know everything Sayed has you doing. This fits right in."

"Alright, I'll bite. What is this job?"

"I need you to meet with a contact of Sayed's in twenty minutes. You two should have some interesting things to talk about."

"Where?"

"Café Guitara."

"I'll be there. And Tariq?"

"Yes?"

"If you're playing me, I'll cut out your lying tongue."

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"Any luck?"

Jack sighed as he walked over to stand next to Tony.

"Not really. The CIA confirmed Warner's story."

"Does that clear him?"

"Not really. There's something weird going on here, Tony. I just can't put my finger on it." He paused, looking around. "Do you know where the other sister is? The one who was going to marry Reza."

Tony shrugged. "She refused to come in with them. She was screaming at us about ruining her wedding with our racial profiling."

"I think we should find her."

"What for?"

"I just want to be able to look at as many of the pieces to this puzzle as I can. And she's one of them."

"Alright. I'll have Monroe go find her." He paused, scuffing one foot against the floor. "There's something else," he said quietly.

"What?"

"I can't get a hold of Ava or Michelle."

"Since when?"

"I've been trying for the past twenty minutes. Their phones are going directly to voice mail. That means they're either out of range or off. I don't really like either of those options."

"Neither do I. Dammit!" Jack cursed. "We never should have let Nina out of the building. That bitch can wriggle out of anything."

"So what do we do?"

"Give them another twenty minutes. If you can't get through and you don't hear from them, then we go after them."

"Where do we start?"

"All CTU vehicles have GPS tracking systems. We follow the car."

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Ava groaned as she slowly came to. Darkness enveloped her, and she was suddenly afraid that she had gone blind. She brought her hand right up to her face though, and found that she could see the faintest outline. Ever so slowly, her vision began to adjust, and her fear was quelled.

But as her vision came back to her, so did the knowledge that her body was in pain. She was crumpled against a wall, and she could feel blood streaming down one of her legs and both of her arms. Gently, she tried to ease herself into a sitting position, her ears ringing and her head pounding as her muscles screamed in protest.

Moving to crawl away from the wall, her hand rested on an arm, and everything suddenly came rushing back to her. They had been escorting Nina, hoping that she would lead them to her mysterious caller. Michelle had been walking in front, with Ava behind and their prisoner between them.

"Michelle?" she asked, fear thick in her throat.

A moan answered her, and she laughed with the sudden relief that flooded through her.

"Michelle? Can you talk?"

"What the hell happened?" she asked.

"Nina escaped. And it looks like both ends of the tunnel were blown. I'd say we're trapped."

"That bitch."

"Pretty much."

Michelle struggled to sit up, a sharp gasp ripped out of her throat at the pain that shot through her body. She sagged back, and Ava moved closer.

"Are you okay?"

"My side and my leg."

Reaching out carefully, Ava felt along Michelle's body until she found the wet spot on the left side of her shirt. She probed gently, and then moved down the other woman's leg, nodding grimly when Michelle cried out in pain.

"It feels like a rock clipped your side and cut you. And I think your ankle might be sprained. It's not broken, though."

"Well thank God for that," she gritted. "So what do we do now?"

"Well, I think we have two options."

"And those are?"

"One, we sit here and wait for CTU to find us."

"Why don't I like that option?"

"Because you know that CTU is busy trying to stop a nuclear bomb and we're probably not on the top of their priority list."

"And the second option?"

"We try to clear the rubble. Make our own way out."

"I'm not sure I can stand, Ava."

She shrugged. "That's okay. I'll pass you the rocks and you toss them to the other side. It'll help me clear a path."

"You have a Wonder Woman complex, don't you?"

"What exactly would that entail?"

"Always saving the world. It's like you don't know how to do anything else."

"I'm not trying to save the world right now. Just us."

"I heard about what happened the day Nina Myers showed her true colors. I know that you pushed yourself to the limit time and again, putting everything you had into saving Jack's family."

"A lot of good that did."

"You saved Kim."

"No. Kim saved herself. She escaped and got away. That took a lot of guts."

"But all day you looked for her. You were in a car accident. You were shot. Nina stabbed you in the shoulder with a screwdriver."

"She's evil, remember?"

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Deflect compliments with sarcasm."

Ava shrugged.

"Because I'm uncomfortable. Because I don't feel like a hero. I don't WANT to feel like one. I'm afraid I'll start thinking I'm invincible, or that the world needs me to save it time and again."

"Maybe it does."

"Regardless, I shouldn't be thinking it." Looking around, she took a deep breath. "Will you do me a favor before I start digging?"

"Anything."

"Pray with me."

"What?"

"The only way we're getting out of here, Michelle, is by the grace of God. So if it's okay with you, I think we should ask for that grace."

The other agent was silent for a long time, and for a minute, Ava was worried that she had upset her.

"I haven't prayed since I was a little girl," she finally said, her voice small. "I'm not sure I remember how."

Ava smiled and reached out, clutching Michelle's hand tightly.

"Don't worry. We'll do it together."

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Nina almost turned around when she saw the small pale blonde sitting at the designated table. She looked like any other woman walking by, and Nina had a hard time believing that this was the person she was supposed to be meeting with. But as she got closer to the table, the woman smiled and stood up.

"Nina?"

She nodded, surprised when the blonde stuck out her hand. Slowly, she took it, and they shook.

"My name is Marie Warner. I need your help."