12:56 A.M. Thursday

          The plan was in motion. The team had arrived on the ground at the Port of Los Angeles two minutes ago. As for me, the whole of CTU's operational floor had become my station, and I paced through it, examining the information monitors and the backup staff left to me, but mostly, mostly I was just seeing it in my mind's eye.

          "Agents report." My voice was soft and devoid of emotion. I had locked myself down with another session of playing Paul Oakenfold over my headphones. Now in my ear I listened to all of the team members check in with me. Jack. Tony. Steve. Chris. People that were not just my co-workers, they had come to be vital components of the staff and people I trusted with my life. Now I had theirs in my hands. For their sake, I prayed that I knew what I was doing. For hadn't it been only a year, maybe less, maybe more, that I had been a scared young operative sent out to London who came back with blood on her hands?

          I had to stop thinking like this.

          "Stand by for your op-sec clearance." I turned to another monitor and checked the overhead scan that should have picked up any other movement in the area, recognizing my team members as green blips, but nothing else. "You're secure. No presence detected."

          "Acknowledged." Jack's voice. He always did like to be the communications handler on his own operations. "Proceeding with first phase."

          "First phase is a green light."

          I heard them moving and closed my eyes, trying to hold out for them.

Look, you're standing alone, standing alone
However I should have known, I should have known
Never before, never again
You will ignore, I will pretend
Never before, never again
You will ignore, I will pretend

Out at the Port, squad members began to swarm the perimeter of the command and control building. The three-story building is the nerve center for the place. Take it, and you've got nothing left for coastal traffic control, period. Now the dozen staff members, weapons ready and nerves on end, were carefully casing its limits. I could hear their hissed commands, the sound of their firearms being checked repeatedly. In my mind it was all one column of noise in the deafening silence.

"Make sure we've got people on all the hard points," Jack was saying, using the term we threw around the office for strategic positions with the most critical locations. His voice resonated in my ear: "We're secure. Go to second phase."

"Acknowledged. Stand by for security check." I glanced at my monitor again, even as I was on another screen pulling up the floor plan for the building itself. Still no other activity. "You're secure."

"Acknowledged." He was breathing hard, but it only lasted a heartbeat. "Second phase is in action."

"Second phase is a green light."

I heard Jack yelling for Steve and a list of other agents to form up with him. My indicator monitor showed them moving from their positions at the building's rear, circling around to head toward the front. The six of them took up positions on either side of the front access door. There was a moment of minor silence – I presume for Steve to do his usual breaking and entering with finesse – and then I saw the six green dots moving over the threshold into the building itself. I held my breath until they were all inside.

In your world, you're alone in your place
You're alone in your world, you're alone in your place
How you said you never would leave me alone
How you said you never would leave me alone

The six-man team inside split into three groups of two, in order to cover the building's three floors that much faster. Each of them would have a communications handler now, as well as the team remaining outside, so I would have four people talking to me on a regular basis. That meant four times the expediency. Four times the risk. I could handle it. I had to handle it.

"Perimeter team, check in," I said to be safe.

"We're all still breathing," Chris informed me. "Everything cool?"

"Like ice." It sounded cold and dead.

Meanwhile, on the inside, the interior teams were making their initial sweeps. If there was any sign that terrorists had been there or were planning something, they would find it. The question was if they would find it in time. I heard Jack kick in another door and proceed into what, according to my schematics, was another data storage room. Port security knew we were there, but I didn't want to raid the place. That wouldn't do us any good. If the data had any secrets, we'd have to get them some other way.

"Anything?" I asked nonetheless.

"Nothing yet." He paused. "You have anything?"

I checked my screens. "Nothing."

But there had to be something.

Now you're just walking away, walking away
When you said you always would stay, always would stay
Never before, never again
You will ignore, I will pretend
Never before, never again
You will ignore, I will pretend

This went on for another fifteen minutes, which was all it took for the interior teams to sweep the floor. Even before everyone pulled together for the final consensus, the results did not look promising. The more and more disheartened my team got out in the field, the more frustrated I got trying to help them toward a goal that clearly wasn't there.

No one ever interfered with the perimeter team. There wasn't even a shadow of activity around the Port's command and control. Still the team remained on alert, not willing to accept that it could be this easy. Chris kept them sharp and ready for a sudden threat, because we'd had plenty of those in our time. However, no such problem emerged, and they fell silent.

None of the interior teams reported anything remotely suspicious. They hadn't turned up any bombs, surveillance devices, suspicious materials, trace evidence – you name it, they'd been looking for it with a rapid-fire expediency. It wasn't the expertise of our criminology staff, but it was thorough. Thorough enough to convince us all as the team regrouped outside the building that there was really nothing there to be standing there for.

In your world, you're alone in your place
You're alone in your world, you're alone in your place
How you said you never would leave me alone
How you said you never would leave me alone
Never before, never again
You will ignore, I will pretend

I heard the frustration and weariness in my superior officer's voice, in the sharp intakes of his breath. Like me, he was driven to do the right thing. He had to do it; it was in his nature. When he came up against a wall, it became an almost obsession. He had to conquer the wall and he had to succeed. To have been blindsided, if you could call it that, did not sit well with Jack Bauer. I knew that he knew he wasn't alone in that feeling.

"And we're sure about this?" he asked, just wanting to hear it said.

Chris nodded. "There's nobody here. Not to say that means there never will be, but … not now."

"There's no telling what an in-depth search might turn up," Steve replied. "But given the time clock we're working with, I think we'd be better off if we focus our immediate resources to more immediate concerns and take another run at this when the conflict atmosphere dies down."

"I want to take a second look at the evidence results from the warehouse. I know there's nothing there, but I don't think we did this for nothing. It's maybe just wrong place, wrong time." I knew Chris was trying to sound conciliatory, even though he meant what he said.

"You do that, then." Jack exhaled, and his voice startled me. "Brittany, what are you thinking?"

In your world, you're alone in your place
You're alone in your world, you're alone in your place
How you said you never would leave me alone
How you said you never would leave me alone

Silence hung oppressively over the communications channels. I took a deep breath, hung my head, closed my eyes, and after a moment of eternal torment, let it out.

"Shut it down," I said. "There's nothing left."

I cut the communication line, throwing my headset down onto the desk. A couple buttons more and all the monitors faded out. I was left as I had begun, standing alone, set in darkness.