23:00, CTU Los Angeles

For a few minutes, the place was eerily quiet, as if to mourn Jack's death. The silence was only broken by the sudden ringing of Tony's telephone. Picking it up, he answered the call and as he listened, a smile grew on his face.

"And you're sure about this?" he asked, in a way that drew attention from those around him, including Alex. Everybody waited for him to give them some news on whatever it was that was making him grin, and he noticed this as he hung up.

"Well, it seems that George Mason is something of a hero tonight. Apparently, he snuck on board the plane carrying the bomb, and convinced Jack to let him fly the plane. Jack parachuted out and is now on his way back here," Tony announced. He was delighted that his friend was still alive, and proud of Mason for ensuring his last moments alive were spent saving many innocents.

Alex smiled and reached for his phone. He wanted to call Kim and let her know that her father was alive, so as not to prolong her suffering.

"Alex? Is everything OK?" Kim asked as she answered the phone.

"I have some good news about your dad, Kim. It turns out that George Mason flew the plane, your dad is alive and on his way back to CTU now," Alex replied, and as he did a memory of that awful night floated up from his memory. Just like he was telling Kim that her father was alive, Nina had told Jack that his daughter was dead, and as he pushed the memory back down he noticed the difference.

"Really?! I'm so glad to hear that, Alex!" Kim joyfully spoke, and Alex could almost see the smile on her face.

23:15, Television shop, Los Angeles

All of the televisions in the window were showing the same rolling news channel, and a small crowd gathered as the televisions began to inform them of the nuke explosion. There had been rumours within minutes that something had happened, and online forums were full of people speculating on what exactly that something was.

"This is Evan Grant with some breaking news. It appears as if a controlled nuclear device has exploded somewhere in the middle of the Mojave Desert. There are few details at the moment, but we'll bring them to you as soon as we get them," the news anchor announced. The small crowd began to murmur amongst themselves. Many of the rumours were anti-Muslim, and with 9/11 only being a few years before, the possibility that this had something to do with Islamist terrorists sent some people into a rage. Muslims in the local area had already been on edge after the deadly September 11th attacks, and now there was something else they had to contend with.

23:25, CTU Los Angeles

As Jack Bauer walked back into CTU, he knew that whilst the nuke was gone, there was still threats out there that needed to be stopped. Glancing over at Alex, he noticed the injuries from the car crash and walked over to him.

"Thanks for making sure Kim is safely out of LA, Alex, but where did those newer injuries come from? You didn't get them from the bombings?" Jack asked, and Alex was confused for a moment before he realised that Kim had not mentioned the car crash to her father.

"Don't panic, but we were in a car crash this afternoon, around 4pm. Meghan is uninjured and Kim suffered a gash on her head, but Miguel was badly injured and they had to amputate his leg," Alex replied, and Jack looked at him with puzzlement. Both crashes, plane and car, had taken place at the same time?

"That's around the time the plane was shot down," Jack spoke. He didn't think there was any connection between the two other than the people in each vehicle, of course, but it was certainly weird.

"Nina's still in the holding room, we haven't told her about the nuke yet, so she still thinks there's a danger to her," Alex informed him, and he could see a slight grin form on Jack's face. CTU had clearly not cared about keeping Nina Myers up to date with the bomb, and Jack was more than happy to have her in a state of fear until it was time for her to leave. He considered going in to see her, but decided against it - he had seen and heard enough from Nina for one day.

23:30, Suburban street, Los Angeles

A mob of locals had formed, and they were now angrily walking towards a local store known to be owned by an Asian family. As they reached the building, they began shouting and screaming angrily, before some of them began lighting molotov cocktails. They opened the main doors of the store, before throwing them in and laughing as the cocktails caught fire. Suddenly, a South Asian man wearing a turban rushed out of a nearby door.

"What are you people doing?!" he shouted, and the crowd jeered at him.

"What does it look like? We're going after Muslims!" a middle-aged man in the crowd yelled back. The Asian man looked at him in astonishment.

"Even if I was Muslim, which I'm not, I have nothing to do with the bomb! I'm Sikh!" he explained, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears. The man could do nothing but try and fight the fires. He thought of waking his family and getting them out of there, but the house would be safe and he didn't want to give the mob that satisfaction.

23:45, CTU Los Angeles

He had noticed her talking to Michelle a couple of times, but now it seemed she wanted to talk to him.

"Alex Myers, right? I'm Carrie Turner," Carrie spoke, noticing his bruises and deciding not to ask. She had seen Alex and Michelle taking a few times, and could see that they were close, so she had to be careful what she said.

"Yeah, is there anything I can help with?" Alex replied. Carrie had been brought in earlier in the evening as Paula's replacement, so he had an idea of what her job was.

"Have you noticed Michelle acting different today? I mean, is there something unusual about her?" Carrie queried, and Alex began to think, not of whether he had seen or hear Michelle acting differently, but why Carrie would ask that. Was something going on with Michelle? He then tried to think of an answer, but no, Michelle had not been acting differently, at least not in a way that wasn't due to the bombings.

"I'm sorry, but I haven't," Alex asked, and he made a mental note to tell Michelle about the conversation. Something seemed off. As Carrie nodded before walking away, he waited a few moments before calling Michelle's extension.

"Michelle? I just had Carrie Turner here asking about you and if you had been acting strangely today. I'm sure it's probably nothing but I wanted to make sure you knew," Alex informed her. He was probably overthinking it, but his curiosity grew as Michelle answered.

"She did? Look, come to my office and make sure that neither Carrie nor Tony notices you," Michelle replied, and Alex raised an eyebrow at the mention of Tony. What was going on?

Looking around for the pair and not seeing either of them in the area, Alex got up and walked towards Michelle's office. He was careful not to walk too fast or slow, and to keep an eye out for Tony or especially Carrie, as he knew little about her. Entering the office, Michelle asked him to sit down.

Meanwhile, Carrie placed the phone down and tutted. She had been asked to monitor Michelle's calls and there had been little to inform Tony about until Alex had called Michelle minutes after she had left his desk. Walking back to where Alex had been seated, she quickly noticed that Alex was gone. She decided that Tony needed to know about this.

"I need to explain something to you, Alex, something is going on and I have to be very careful. We have a recording that implicates Afghanistan and two Middle Eastern countries in today's attempted nuclear attack. Jack and myself believe it to be a clever fake, but if we can't prove that, we could be at war within hours," Michelle explained as Alex listened in growing shock. He had known the threat wasn't over even with the nuke gone, but war? The human cost would dwarf any casualties from the nuke if it had exploded over LA, especially in a country like Afghanistan that was notoriously hard to conquer or even invade.

"Whatever I can do to help, just say, but does this have something to do with Carrie and Tony?" Alex asked. Surely neither of those two wanted war?

"Tony doesn't believe it's a fake, he's been keeping an eye on me. Carrie's visit to you was part of it, that's why I asked you to ensure neither knew you were coming here. The recording has been analysed and is seen as real, but Jack called me and thinks there could be another way to prove that it isn't real at all. Right now, I don't think we can do anything, but that could change," Michelle replied. Nodding, Alex was determined that if he could do something, he would. War had to be avoided at all costs.

Meanwhile, Kate Warner had just finished being debriefed when Jack walked up to her and whispered in her ear. Nodding to him before they began walking towards the parking lot, they hoped that what they were about to do would help prove the recording to be a fake. As they reached the entrance, Jack pulled out some keys for a car he knew was in the lot, before he heard Tony behind him.

"Where are you going, Jack?" Tony asked, and Jack turned to see Tony pointing a gun at him, although he knew that Tony would not shoot him and certainly wouldn't shoot Kate. Suddenly, Jack walked up to him and punched him hard, sending him to the floor. Tony groaned as he fell over on his ankle, and grimaced as he saw Jack and Kate run into the parking lot.

"Jack! Jack!" Tony yelled, but there was no reply.

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