Wednesday, 5th May 2004
Two years and two months since Day One
Eight months since Day Two
Two years and four months until Day Three
08:00, Nina's apartment, Tangier, Morocco
Today was her 29th birthday, but Nina Myers had long stopped caring about such things, even if she always insisted on having her real birthdate on her fake passports in order to keep some connection to who she really was. Instead of celebrating another year of life, she was going to spend much of the day planning her imminent escape from North Africa and her return to the world of terrorism. She had recently been to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on the Mediterranean coast, to meet with a contact who could get her out of the region and into Germany undetected within a week. Even after getting out of exile, it would still be some time before she was anywhere near where she had been before being exposed. Still, she was willing to do what was necessary to climb back up the ladder, with her sights set even higher than where she had been before her arrest. Once she was in Munich, she could get back to doing what she was good at.
Stepping out onto her balcony, holding a mug of black coffee in her hands, she looked out westwards across the vast Atlantic. Somewhere on the other side of the ocean was the United States, and Jack Bauer. He probably thought she was long gone from North Africa and if things had gone better in Algiers, she would have been out of there months ago. Her contact had been caught by Interpol just hours before she was due to meet them and for a while after that, she had decided to lie low and not risk setting up another meeting until she was absolutely sure they had no idea that she had been involved with the contact in any way. It was only some months later when she had heard that the problem had been taken care of before it grew any bigger. Returning her thoughts to Jack, she wondered how he would have taken the news of her being captured in Algiers in the act of voiding her pardon.
"You can run as far as you want, Nina, but I'll do whatever it takes to hunt you down"
His words from that day came to mind as they so often did whenever she thought of him, even though her sources consistently told her that he was actually doing very little to find her. Still, whilst she wasn't a big believer in fates or destinies, she knew that they would meet again somewhere. She just hoped that if there was an advantage to be taken against the other, that it would be hers.
Taking a sip of her coffee, she gazed downwards towards the busy street. For the past few days, she had noticed a small, black van parked on the other side of the road. She contemplated whether she was just being paranoid or not, although she never saw anyone enter or leave it and it didn't seem to belong to any of the locals. Making a mental note to get one of her contacts to check it out, she returned her attention to the ocean. Whilst she was definitely no sun worshipper, she had often walked along the coast at sunrise or sunset when the beach was at its most deserted and she could just enjoy the scenery. Anyone who saw her would assume that she was just a tourist, but she kept a gun under her shirt just in case.
Suddenly, her phone rang and as she walked back into the apartment, she hoped that the call would bring one piece of news in particular. Placing her mug on the table and grabbing her cell, she checked the number and smiled as she saw a familiar name. This particular contact was an old friend and, whilst she didn't like to put too much reliance or trust on specific individuals, she trusted them a lot more than she trusted most people.
"So it's confirmed, then?" Nina replied, getting straight to the point. The contact hated small talk as much as she did, which was another plus. She grinned to herself as the voice informed her that things were going very much to plan.
Moments later, she placed the phone back down on the table and sighed with relief. The one silver lining about the mess back in Algiers was that it had reminded her not to rush into things, to take great care in planning her escape from North Africa. Otherwise, she might as well hand herself over to the American government. Or, she thought, one of its agents in particular.
"The murder of Jack Bauer. Add that to my pardon and I'll tell you where the bomb is"
It had been his fault, really, that she had tried to kill him. All day he had been threatening her, and if she was going to get her freedom she wanted it without him hovering in the shadows waiting to strike when she least expected it. Thing is, it was never supposed to be personal but she couldn't have left Teri alive to tell them where she was headed. In the end, she died for no reason, but Nina couldn't have predicted him speeding into the parking lot just as she was making her getaway. Even after their breakup, she had seen some affection towards her in his eyes but as he held her by her throat that night, pushing his gun into her head, she saw no sign of it.
Feeling a sudden chill in her spine, she told herself to stop thinking about that day, and about Jack. Nothing more than distractions that she couldn't afford and so, as she took a big gulp of her coffee, she moved on to more urgent matters. Such as the contact who was knocking at her door.