Alex had been asleep, but the sudden noise and light in the room woke him. Opening his eyes, he soon noticed the figure stood at the bedroom door and sat up. A clearer view and he knew exactly what had happened. Still, that didn't mean he had to immediately confirm anything. "Jack, what are you doing?"

Jack moved further into the room. "We both know why I'm here," he replied before gesturing with his gun. "Get out of bed, no sudden moves."

Deciding it was useless to argue, he got out bed and stood with his hands raised to his chest. "You wanna know why I didn't tell you?"

"Tell me while you get dressed."

Alex walked a few careful steps towards the wardrobe. He replaced t-shirt and shorts with a shirt, jeans and sneakers. "She has a family. I'm guessing the informant didn't mention that."

He stared in amazement. Nina Myers having a family, other than Alex, seemed impossible to him. Had she somehow fooled someone into loving her again? Not that it was going to change anything. "You're gonna take me to her," he replied before moving away from the door. "You first."

Walking out of the bedroom, Alex considered making a run for it before he dismissed the idea as useless. Instead, he grabbed his car keys and looked over at Jack. "This won't end well for any of us," he said before leaving the apartment.

Jack said nothing as he followed.

Kim was worrying about her father and the anxiety was increasing by the hour. He had been on the phone, having a conversation that was hard to follow, and he had gotten angrier as it went on. As soon as he ended the call, he had stormed out of the room. She had followed, trying to find out what was wrong, but he had said nothing. His cell was now turned off and nobody she knew in Los Angeles had seen him. Deciding that she needed help, she picked up her phone and dialled a number.

"Ugh, it's so late at night," Chloe mumbled as she answered.

"Chloe, my dad's been missing for hours, something has made him furious," Kim replied. She had forgotten the time zone difference, but she knew Chloe would want to help if Jack was in trouble.

"He's missing? I can use the CTU servers and see what I can find."

For the first time in hours, Kim smiled as she heard the sound of Chloe typing away. She felt a lot calmer now.

Jack stared straight ahead as Alex drove, trying his best to take the longest route he could. The roads were so quiet that it made such a task close to impossible.

"He had no right to tell you," Alex began, glancing at him. "You're not thinking straight, Jack." He wanted to add something about "as usual when it comes to Nina", but decided against it. No point riling him up any further.

Jack glanced back. "This won't take long, then we can get on with our lives," he replied as if he were on the way to a dentist appointment.

Alex scoffed. "Get on with our lives?! You'll be in prison for murder," he replied but his words seemed to have no effect. "You're gonna kill a mother in front of her kids?"

"She didn't care when she murdered my wife."

Kim was trying not to think about the possibilities but they flooded into her mind anyway. Awful memories of past traumas were pulling her deeper into the abyss. She was close to drowning when Chloe's voice pulled her out.

"Kim, I've found something!"

She gripped the phone a little tighter, hoping for something positive. "What is it?"

"He's here, in New York. He flew in about a hour ago."

New York? Why was he there? What was there that had gotten him so angry? Whatever it was, she was glad Chloe was in the same city as he was. "Can you track him?"

Waiting for the lights to change, Alex looked around as thoughts of making a run for it rose once more. He was about to dismiss them again when he noticed a cop car pull up behind them. That gave him much better odds and made his decision for him.

Glad that he hadn't put his seat belt on, he took his chance. In one smooth motion, he pushed open the door and flung himself out of the car, running as soon as he could. He didn't look back as he sprinted down an alleyway and out of Jack's sight.

Noticing the escape far too late, Jack swore under his breath before moving over. He reached to close the door, only to notice a cop approaching. Leaning down a little, he hid the gun under the seat and hoped the officer didn't notice.

The officer, a young white man with short blond hair and light brown eyes, examined Jack. "I'm Officer Jones, mind telling me what that was about?"

Jack smiled at him. "He's my brother, we were arguing and… he gets a little dramatic at times."

Jones nodded before using his flashlight to look around the car interior. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"You know, I'll call him tomorrow and he'll have forgotten all about this," he replied.

"Fair enough, have a safe night, sir," Jones replied before walking back to his car.

Jack took a deep breath and set off as soon as he could. He decided it was a waste of time to go after Alex and found an empty parking space. Pulling out his phone, he dialled a number.

Luckily for Alex, Cole Ortiz lived nearby and as he banged on the door, he knew he had little time to spare.

Cole opened the door before yawning. "What's going on?"

"I need a gun and your car, I'll explain in the morning."

"Is it something to do with CTU?"

Alex nodded, before Cole shrugged and went back inside. Moments later, he returned with keys and a gun.

"Looking forward to finding out more about it tomorrow."

Chloe was hard at work as she traced Jack's journey through New York. A cab had taken him to the area where she and Alex lived, stopping outside the apartment block where he lived. She had tried to call Alex but he wasn't answering so instead, she called Kim. "It's something to do with Alex."

Kim tried to think of any possible reason why her father would be angry at Alex. There was little in recent times to suggest problems between the two, but what if it were more distant? "It's gotta be something big… oh, my god!"

"What?"

"Nina Myers!"

Alex was risking unwanted attention as he sped through the city streets. He could understand Jack's fury when it came to Nina, but this was all so pointless. For some reason, the informant thought it necessary to destroy two families.

Swerving around a corner, he tensed as he saw the cop driving past, but the lights and siren stayed sleeping.

Officer Jones was about to call in the car when he stopped to think for a moment. Was the driver who he thought it was? Putting his radio back down, he made a quick u-turn and followed Alex, taking care not to be noticed .

Alex parked up and looked over at Nina's house. Everything seemed to be okay on the outside. He jumped out of the car and began running towards the house, only for a cop car to pull up.

"I thought I recognised you, are you okay?" Jones asked as he approached.

It took a moment for him to realise. "I'm okay, I'm gonna spend the night at my sister's house," he replied. One of the upstairs lights flickered on, and he hoped that it was Nina.

"Your brother said you were arguing."

Alex tried to hide his amusement. "Yeah, it was all over something meaningless as it usually is," he replied before noticing. Someone was watching from a downstairs window, but he couldn't tell who.

"Well, as long as you're alright, I'll leave you to it," Jones said before walked back to his car.

Turning towards the house, Alex saw a confused Nina standing in the door. Gesturing for her to go inside, he soon followed.

"What's going on?" Nina asked as they moved into the living room.

"The informant told Jack about you," Alex began, noticing her face go paler. "He's heading here now."

Nina sank into a chair. "Who is this informant?!"

"He never gave a name, but I think he's in the area. Sounds like he smokes a lot," he replied, glancing out of the window. "He's got something against you, this is personal to him."

Nina sighed. She knew a lot of people with grudges against her. His being a smoker didn't narrow it down much. Whoever this man was, he wanted to destroy her. Even worse, he wanted to destroy her family.

Then someone appeared at the door. "Nina, what's going on? Who is this?"

"Hello James, I'm Alex, Nina's brother."

James studied him. "She never told me about a brother, but I see the resemblance."

A car pulled up outside. Alex rushed to the window and cursed, pulling out his gun as he saw Jack.

"Why do you have a gun?!" James demanded, only for Jack to appear behind him.

Nina, realising that Jack had not noticed her, hid behind the door as he pushed James into the room.

Jack pushed his gun into James' neck. "Where is she, Alex?"

Alex thought for a moment. "James, you're a doctor, right?"

James stared at him. "Yes, but what does that have to do with anything right now?"

"Kick him in the left knee, quick!"

He was quick to do as instructed, sending Jack crashing to the floor. Nina took her chance, rushing out of her hiding place and kicking him in the jaw.

As Jack laid unconscious, James stared in turn at him, Nina and then Alex. "Is anyone gonna tell what's going on?"

Alex crouched down and grabbed Jack's gun before standing back up. "He's Jack, Nina's ex, and he's got a grudge against her.

"Never told me about him, either," James said as he checked Jack's pulse.

Nina embraced Alex. "What am I gonna do?"

"I'll take him back to my apartment, keep him there until we can work something out," he replied. Uncocking Jack's gun, he held it out to Nina, who looked at it in horror.

"Alex, I can't…"

"It's to keep you safe. Your family, too."

She sighed before taking hold of the gun. Despite having extensive experience with weapons, she tried not to let it show. As far as James knew, she had only ever seen guns in the movies and on television.

The first thing Chloe noticed as she approached the apartment was that the door was ajar. She glanced at Morris before the pair entered.

"Alex?"

Inside, they found nobody at home and Chloe was growing ever more concerned. Kim had told her all about Nina Myers and she could only hope that neither of her friends was going to end up hurt or worse.

They were about to leave when an old man appeared at the door.

"You looking for Alex?"

Chloe nodded. "Yeah, I work with him. Have you noticed anything strange tonight?"

"I live next door and the walls are thin in these apartments. Not too long ago, I heard two men talking. One was Alex but I didn't recognise the other."

"Could you tell what they were saying?"

He shook his head. "No, but when they left I peeked through the spyhole. The man with Alex had a gun."

Alex and James had tied Jack up and now they were loading him into the trunk of Cole's car. James had checked him for any injuries but had declared him okay.

"Keep him away from my family, would you?"

Alex nodded as he climbed into the car. "I'll do everything I can, but Jack is not an easy man to control."