The following takes place between 9 pm and 10 pm

09:00:01 --- 09:00:02 --- 09:00:03 --- 09:00:04

CTU

Lisa sighs and shakes her head. "Not exactly. I still don't have a sure lead but..." She passes him the file folder. "Jack, I'm sure it's better than what it looks like. If she was helped up and walked to the car, then she's not badly injured." Her hand passes gently over his. The concern is all over his face and it breaks her heart. "I'm still pressing the hospitals."

George has been watching patiently. Things go on around him but no one says a word. Yet now, Catherine's on the phone. She's a good worker and trustworthy. He can count on her. He clicks into her phone call and interrupts. "Catherine, I'm coming down. Why don't I take a look at what you have and we'll see what we can pull together?"

He ascends the stairs to her desk, noting the absence of Jack and Lisa but really putting it aside. "I used to be great at decrypting codes." George winks slightly, "What have you got?"

Great. Now it's the boss himself looking over her shoulder. Fine. Maybe he can help.

"Alright... I've been trying to put together a list of abandonned military and government projects and it went into the 100s. And now Jack and Michelle want me to sort the whole thing. Assess the likelihood that - in case a project was continued - it could be used in a terrorist act. And that's what I was going to start on just now but Michelle ordered me to get someone to help me do it."

Catherine sighs. It may as well be George, that doesn't really matter any more. "She'll probably fire me before this day is over anyway."

"No one's firing anyone. Besides, I do that. Not Michelle." George smiles and takes the list from Catherine. It's not big, they can handle it. "We'll split it in two. It'll be nice for me to work down here for a while, get my hands dirty." He settles into a chair beside her, starting up a terminal. "So...abandoned projects...I'll take 1950-1970, you take 70 to the present, okay?"

Catherine agrees. At least now it's half the workload. "Okay. Thank you."

Jack looks at the photos. Kim walking. Kim on the ground. Kim walking back to the car, leaning on a woman's arm. The car driving away.

It hurts to see her like that. It's physical pain to him. Jack starts over, this time staring at each photo for much longer. He feels like chocking and gasps for air, turning away from Lisa for a moment.

Pull yourself together Jack. Calm down. The thoughts sound in his head. Calm down. Jack takes a deep breath and finally finds the strength to speak.

"You could be right..." But then again, he knows she could have internal injuries. "Find her. Please find her. If this woman took her to a hospital, it's likely the closest one. Check that one first. Or give me the address and I'll go. What about the licence plate? Were you able to ID the vehicle?"

hospital surveillance room

"Hey, Ted, these guys need to see today's footage. Make sure they get it, ok?"

"Sure, Eric." Ted turns to the two uniformed guys. "Need anything specific?"

"Yes, we're looking for someone. We need the footage of the last six hours. Could you pull it up? Thanks."

Eric closes the door and joins the three at the screen. He's curious about who the military is looking for in his hospital.

CTU

"From this angle the license is obscured. Sat feeds only cover this portion of the Canyon's side road until you get to the main highway but transmission was lost at one point due to interference." Lisa takes the pictures from Jack. He doesn't need to have them anymore. "You saw me fax her picture. Right now, there's nothing more we can do but wait."

She receives no immediate response. Jack's still processing it - the pictures, the possibilities. He's back, grieving and hurt, just like he was before this day started. "I'll go." The words come out before Lisa can stop them. "I'll tell George, he'll get back up on standby and a car ready for me. I'll go and check all the area hospitals myself."

Jack stares at her. "If I trust anyone to find her, it's you, Lisa. But I don't want to put you in danger. You know I'd much rather go out and look for her myself." Jack pauses for a moment. This might actually work better for all of them. He and Lisa will be less distracted plus she'll be out of George's way. "But that's not an option right now. I believe we're on to something here and might need to react soon..." He makes the decision. "Okay, go out there and do what you can, but don't go alone. You've seen who these people are and if you bump into some of them, you will need someone to cover your back. "

gas station

Heather is back in the car. The whole fueling thing took a little longer than she thought, her having had to wait for quite a while before paying for the gas. She's driving down the road again, staring straight ahead. She's in thought. Somehow things aren't right and Kim isn't talking. A greyhound bus drives past them. There's a bus stop nearby. The car crosses the town limits, heading out. Kim is silent as well. Heather feels like she needs to talk to her.

"Kim, how're you doing?"

"Uhm.. I'm ok.", Kim nods absently, following the bus with her eyes.

CTU

Michelle has both files, the Nanny's and Codis's up on her screen. She's looking for similarities. So far, nothing substantial. She glances at Catherine. George is helping her, now that's a smart move. That way, he's in the middle of everything that's going on. At least he's not making it harder than it already is.

Lisa makes a quick call to have a car waiting. She turns back to Jack afterwards, "Don't worry about me, I can handle myself." As she heads for the door, briefcase and laptop packed up and in hand, Lisa is wondering who she should take for backup now that Kevin is gone. There's no one she trusts. "I'll call you when we get to the hospital, okay?"

Lisa says nothing more as she walks out and then for the exit, passing George.

"Hey," George glances up, "Hold on, Catherine. Lisa?"

She stops, "I'm busy."

"Where are you going?"

"Following a lead. Stay here, okay? It's important that I do this on my own." She takes his hand from her arm and leaves.

Heather's Car

"Could you pull over?" Kim's request is simple but she is surprised when Heather follows it.

"I'm sorry but I can't let you continue to help me like this. You're putting yourself in danger - you and Peter."

Kim opens the car door and gets out. "Don't go home. These people will want to find you and they will go to your home. Look, my mother died because of my dad's job and I've been kidnapped twice now because of that job. Please don't let that happen to you."

She closes the door, edges to the side of the road, and starts back for the bus stop.

"Kim! Kim, wait!" Heather calls but Kim is walking. Don't go home? Where else should they go? Peter looks scared. "It's okay... It's okay.", she tries to smile. But Kim sounded serious. Peter sensed that, too.

CTU

"Michael! Get your stuff and go with Lisa! Now! Go!"

Michael's field ops and Jack trusts him. He can't let Lisa go without backup. Not today. Jack watches Michael grab his gun and ammo and run after Lisa.

Then Jack turns to Michelle. "Got those profiles?"

"Yes, they're here. I've been checking them."

"Good, get me a printout. I want to see them side by side."

"Already done. Here." she hands him the files.

"Thanks."

Heather's car

Heather waits for a while. Maybe Kim will turn around and come back. But she doesn't.

With a sigh, Heather puts the car into drive and drives off slowly, eyes on the rear view mirror. Kim is going to the bus stop, not turning back. Heather steps on the gas and leaves the scene.

CTU

Jack views the files. Nothing in the Nanny's. This Kelly sounds like she never left an impact anywhere in her life. All clean, all perfect. all inconspicious. But something in Codis' file catches his eye.

"Codis' file says he has a daughter. She should be roughly the same age as this Kelly girl. But there is absolutely nothing on her in here. Andre! The bios? Got anything on a daughter in Codis file?"

Michael catches up with Lisa.

"Lisa!" She turns around. "Jack's sending me with you. Guess I'm your backup team." He chuckles. "The name's Michael, by the way."

"And you already know mine," Lisa responds to Michael. She should have known Jack would send someone after her, yet she had hoped to avoid it. "This is us, I'll drive." She doesn't give him a chance to respond after grabbing the keys to the car provided for them. "We're going to the Canyon. Hope you aren't scared of mountain lions."

Michael laughs again. "Yeah, they scare the life out of me! Big ol' bad cats, them cougars!"

Bus Stop

Kim glances at the schedule posted. She's got about ten minutes until the next one shows. Just about enough time for someone to come around and recognize her but she'll wait. Thankfully Heather hasn't stayed and Kim knows she herself has done one thing right today.

CTU

"Catherine, try working the projects by their level of significance." George has been watching her progress, "If we want to reactivate a classified or abandoned project, we might choose something with little importance to those around us. That would provide a head start before anyone catches on."

Catherine nods. "Okay, that makes sense." George seems to be really trying to help here. "What's with the impact? Wouldn't we choose those that would cause the most termoil?"

"Probably, depends where you are wanting to do the most damage and what kind of damage you want to do." George glances at his list. All projects are too outdated to be updated. "Let's go with what you have for now. Look into maybe small, technological projects with foreign investors."

Andre switches to Codis' file and scans it. "Daughter born in Annaheim, Canada, she's about 29 - birthday next month. We've got a picture." He backs away for Jack to get a good look.

Jack glances at the picture. "She couldn't have been more than nine back then! Is that the only picture we've got?" He glances back and forth between Andre and Michelle.

"I don't have a picture of her, Jack.", Michelle answers. And this seems to be the only one Andre's got. Right?" Andre nods in agreement.

"Alright. So what do we do? I want to know what his daughter looks like. As soon as possible." Jack is clearly not happy.

"Jack, there is a possibility. We have a software that can simulate the changes in the physiognomy that occur as a person ages. We can try that on the picture. It should give us a fairly good idea of what she would look like today."

"Good. Do it. How long is it gonna take?"

"Uhm.. I don't know. Not that long. If we put a forensic anthropologist on it. I'll check with the lab who they can call in."

"Michelle, call the lab, but if there's no-one around, do it yourself, we don't have time to wait, okay?"

"Yes, I'll get on it right now. Andre, I'm gonna need a picture of her father and if you have one, I need one of her mom, too. Thanks."

Michelle picks up the phone, calling the forensics lab.

"This is Michelle Dessler. Do you have a forensic anthropologist on duty right now?... Okay, is there anybody who can do a physiognomy simulation?"

"Yeah, we can do that." Lab guy snaps his fingers and sends Carl upstairs. "Michelle, Carl's coming."

Andre prints the most recent photos of Codis and his daughter. "The mom is dead. I'll dig through obits and see if I can find anything."

Tony returns from getting his cup of coffee, not that anyone noticed. The room is a buzz of activity now with Jack in charge. "Since you're giving the orders," he crosses his arms and sips his drink, "Anything new you want me to do? My lead didn't pan out."

At the bus stop

The anxiety Kim has been feeling is now back. That and the pain in her ankle. The bus is supposed to arrive any minute now but she is hesitating. Should she really get on the bus? A quick look tells her there's not much else around. She could easily take off and head down the side road to the left.

on patrol with Lisa

Michael glances out the window and then looks back at Lisa. "Anyway, what's in the Canyon? Thought that compound has been wiped out?"

She isn't in the mood for a talker which is why she wished Kevin were with her. "We're looking for a missing person. I know her stats so why don't you catch up." She points to the file she has on Kim. "We've got a 15 minute drive."

Michael takes the file folder and opens it. He's a little shocked. "That's Jack's daughter! Is she missing again? Oh, man, she can't seem to stay out of trouble, can she? Now I understand why Jack showed up today, yes, Ma'am, I do.. Hey, where'd your partner go? That guy, Kevin, wasn't it? Where's he at?"

CTU

Carl makes his way to Michelle, everyone knows who she is. "Got the pics?" He asks in his oh so charming way that irritates Tony, who throws him a look. "Mind if I borrow your system, 'chelle?"

"No, of course not. Just do the job, we're kinda stuck here. Wait. Here's the mother.." she opens the picture file. "..and here's her father... And that's the girl. We need to know what she'd look like roughly 20 years later. Thanks." Michelle gets up from the chair and lets Carl take over. For the first time today, it looks like she can take a short break. Tony's just standing around, too. She figures it could be a good moment to have a chat.

"Tony, got a minute?"

Tony steps away with Michelle at her request. "You've got something going on with Carl the face man?" He's half teasing, half serious.

Michelle places a hand on Tony's arm. "Let's go grab a cup of coffee or something. Carl is busy, George is busy, everyone knows what to do. And I really need to talk to you."

Jack sits down next to Carl. "Mind if I wait here?"

Carl loads the pictures and begins the imaging process. A shame Michelle left, things were just getting fun. Now he's got Jack breathing down his neck. "Okay, Mom and Pop are in and the girl..." He double-clicks. "There. Now we've got to get the specifics." He types them in. Age: 29. Height and weight, eye color, hair. "Sit back and relax, Jack. It'll be a few seconds."

Sit back and relax. That'd be good. Just for a few moments. Jack runs his hands over his face and then through his hair and then leans back in the chair. Hands on his neck, Jack closes his eyes for just a few seconds.

On Patrol

"Kevin had to take care of something else." Lisa says with an exasperated sigh. "Michael, that is Jack's daughter and this is very important to him. I need you to listen to everything I ask you to do. It's the only way to ensure Kim's safety." She turns on the road to the Canyon, passes the compound road, and is within a couple miles of the first hospital.

"I realize that it's Jack's daughter, Lisa." Michael's finally serious. "I wasn't mocking about it..." Lisa gives him a sharp look. "Okay, I was... I'm sorry. She's just..." He changes his mind and stops. He's just uncomfortable, but he can't say it.

"So what are we doing? Checking every hospital in the area? I thought you'd faxed them the pictures and no-one recognized her, what's the use?"

"They may have missed something!" Lisa is near losing it with this man. What is he doing here anyway? Jack trusts him! "Okay...look! Kim is scared and alone, right? She may not know where she is and may not have given her real name. A faxed photo still looks different than a real one. Besides," she takes a deep breath, "Jack doesn't deserve this again."

CTU

Tony can only guess what one of the numerous things Michelle will bring up now as they head to the lounge/coffee room. "How do you take yours?" He gets two mugs from the cabinet.

"Black will do just fine, thanks." Michelle takes the mug from Tony, but doesn't drink. Time to lay the cards on the table. She eyes him carefully before she begins to speak. "Tony, this morning... I know I acted strangely... I thought it best to let you know why..."

She clears her throat. "The data that were lost, well... It could have been, no, it must have been someone from the inside... Tony, whoever it was, they used your access codes and your computer to transmit... Any idea why?"

Catherine is feeling really relieved. She looks up from the keyboard. "Thank you for helping me out, Mr. Mason. I really appreciate it."

And George keeps working. "Catherine, I'm here to help. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. As we filter these programs, focus on Bulgaria and Eastern Europe."

Catherine keeps working too. But the list is still long. "Of course, Mr. Mason. We all work together, right?" She smiles as she says this, but sometimes the place feels like everyone is playing against each other.

An odd question...George doesn't say so but he mentally makes a note to check Catherine's background. "Anything pop up on the check yet?"

On the run

Kim is gone from the bus stop. She didn't wait to see who would come. The roadways are void of cars and only a few homes dot the area. But there are trees and plenty of places to hide. If she just follows the road south she'll be out of the canyon again and maybe near a town soon.

CTU

Carl grins as he takes a quick look at Jack. "Bet I know what your thinking 'bout. Yeah, sure is a shame Nina went all psycho on us. She had great legs. Can't believe you let her go, mate. But hey, we've got 'chelle here and she's a doll." His grin widens, "Been thinking 'bout asking her out but she wouldn't take a lab guy. Hey, you've got a daughter right? How old is she? I've seen that pic floating around the internal system. Whoa! Hot one! Maybe she'll settle for me, eh?"

"SHUT UP CARL!" Jack jumps up from the chair, grabing Carl by the collar and pulling him up and away from the desk, pinning him to the wall. "How dare you talk to me like that!" Jack feels like smacking this guy, but it probably wouldn't be the best idea in front of the whole office.

"Let me tell you one thing about respect, Carl . It has to be earned. And this is not getting you there." Jack leans even closer to Carl and speaking directly to his ear. "Don't you ever talk about my daughter like that again or I swear, you won't like what happens next."

Jack stares Carl down for a few seconds. Better to let go, before George gets inbetween. He pushes Carl back into the chair in disgust.

"Get the work done and get the hell out of here."

hospital surveillance room

"That's her. Enhance. Focus. We got her." , John motions to Bill to come over.

Eric is puzzled. "Man, that's just a girl..." She doesn't look liike a criminal to him.

"And you've done a good job."

"What the..." Eric jumps up from his chair and goes for his gun, but before the security guards can react, he and his collegue get a bullet each and drop to the floor.

"Alright. We got Kim. All we have to do is ID that woman she's with, she'll lead us to Kim." He snaps a photo of the woman and calls up Nick. "We got a lead on Kim. I'm transmitting a photo of someone she was with. Get us her address and we'll bring Kim back to you."

"Great job, Bill. We're ready over here."

"Okay."

Bill sends the photo to Nick and sits down in Eric's chair. "Got it?"

"Yeah. I'll get back to you." The phone line disconnects.

"We're closing in on her. That's good." John is grinning.

CTU main office

George says nothing. Jack is clearly in the right and Carl is in the wrong and Jack has handled himself amazingly well. For a guy who's daughter is missing and who's wife is dead.

Meanwhile, Carl readjusts his shirt and gets back to work. That man is scary no doubt about it. "Um...okay, here." The finished enhancement loads letting him breathe a sigh of relief. "There, your pic will take a couple of minutes to fully load. So I should be getting back now... lots of stuff to do." He pushes back the chair and gets up. "But hey, she is hot." And now... Carl sprints towards the stairs.

Jack shakes his head in disbelief. Carl is running away, and there's no use chasing him. A little smack on the head wouldn't do any more damage to his brain than it already seems to have suffered. But there are more important things to do. Maybe later.

Coffee Room

He wondered how long it would take before someone noticed. There hadn't been time to cover things this morning, what with Jack coming back and everything. "They got the access codes because I left my computer logged on. It was up and running when I got here this morning."

Tony takes a seat and fiddles with his mug infront of him. "I stayed here for the weekend, went home at about 5 this morning to shower and change. Whoever wanted access could get it because I wasn't careful enough to secure my system." Michelle is looking for an explanation. Why not? Give her the whole sad sob story.

"Things haven't been the same around here since... anyway. I'm responsible for a lot of what happened then because I should have caught on. But I didn't and it stays with me every day. I can't sleep, can't think clearly, and sure don't want to deal with Jack."

Hospital

Lisa pulls to the curb of the hospital and parks. "Stay here. I'm going in by myself."

Lisa identifies herself to the admit nurse. "I'm just going to take a look around, see if I see her by chance."

CTU cofee room

Michelle places her hand on Tony's. "Hey, I understand how you must be feeling. There will come a time when you and Jack will be able to talk about what happened. But in the meantime, remember Jack didn't see through Nina either. She fooled both of you. She fooled the whole office, Tony. It wasn't only your fault. Everybody could have noticed something... Jack should have noticed something."

She pauses. The whole thing had really gotten to him. It was a shock to everyone, but Tony has been more than devastated ever since.

Hospital

Michael sits in the car. He behaved like an idiot. It was inexcusable. He looks out of the window for a moment, thinking. He can't stay in here. Jack asked him to watch Lisa's back, that's what he's going to do. Luckily, Lisa had left the keys in the ignition lock. He steps out of the car and locking it, walks inside.

He spots her talking to a nurse and walks up to her. "Lisa... I'm sorry." The nurse is listening, but it doesn't matter. "I don't know what came over me, guess I was just freaked out, afraid of what will happen if we don't find her. I behaved like an ass and I'm sorry. Tell me how to help."

"Heh..." Lisa excuses herself from the admit desk, taking Michael by the arm. "You're more trouble than you're worth," she huffs, "but Jack wanted you here so I'll keep you. We're checking rooms and checking charts and checking staff for anyone who might recognize Kim. We'll cover more ground if we split up. Take the left hallway, I'll take the right. Go now."

Michael smiles. "Okay. I'll let you know if I find anything."

Coffee Room

Michelle, though feeling sorry about Tony, knows the importance of their work. "Look, I know it's not easy, but I don't have to tell you that you have to be able to focus. We need everyone 100 capable of doing their job. This may not be the right time to say this, but the fact that you forgot to lock your system and went home proves that you're not..."

Michelle lets her eyes sink for a moment, but then looks up again. "Tony, don't misunderstand me, you're great at your job and I'd hate not to have you here right now, but... maybe you should take some time off. Deal with the pain and come back when you're ready."

Tony puts his head in his hands. Michelle's right, he should deal with it - but is now the right time? "I haven't made any other mistakes.", he sighs.

Burton was killed. If he hadn't acted so rash, threatened to leave, could this source have survived? "What will I tell George?"

"George? You will have to explain what happened... Tony..." Michelle sighs "I really don't mean to be rude, but that one mistake probably cost that FBI undercover agent his life... If we're lucky, they only used it themselves, but if that information has been made available to others, every single one of our agents outside could die... You really can't afford another mistake. You'll get fired or worse." She doesn't like saying this, but she knows it has to be said. Hopefully Tony won't hold this against her...

CTU

Jack turns back to the screen. The photo is fully loaded now. "Michelle..." He calls but she's not there. Neither is Tony. Jack grabs Kelly's file from the desk... "George! I got it." The photo in the file shows the same face as the photo on the computer screen. "Mills' Nanny is Codis' daughter."

09:59:57 --- 09:59:58 --- 09:59:59 --- 10:00:00