Disclaimer: I literally don't own anything!

Setting: These scenes are alternatives to Season 3, 3:00 to 3:15am and follow on from my previous chapter. Nina is alive and back in custody, thanks largely to Michelle's actions, and her interrogation will recommence shortly.

A/N: I have only rewritten the scenes involved with the Nina's death and Chloe tracking Amador via his bank account. All remaining scenes have been left untouched and I'll add a short sentence to mark their place, continuing the story flow and acting as a reminder for these who haven't seen Season 3 recently.

3:00

Michelle and Tony walked side by side through the bullpen towards the Situation Room for their debriefs regarding Nina's escape and subsequent recapture. Passing her workstation, Michelle remembered the search protocol she had been running before Nina's entry into the bullpen with Tony at knifepoint. The search should be complete by now. Michelle placed her left hand on Tony's forearm, stopping him short in front of her desk

"I'd like to follow up on the search I was running earlier. Why don't you go ahead and debrief, I'll be there shortly."

Tony nodded "I'll call and let you know when they are ready for you."

Settling into her seat, Michelle unlocked her computer, and brought up the search protocol. It was a long shot but she was desperate to thwart both Nina and the potential biological threat. She had initiated a facial recognition search for Nina and Alvers against all Field Ops photographs from LA based agencies for the last three years. Many of the images were from seedy establishments that catered to discrete meetings of people who wished to remain anonymous. The search had yielded a list of 16 possible matches. Michelle immediately started to pull each image up and examine them carefully to determine whether the identification was correct, and more importantly whether the photo's location provided any useful information.

In the interim, Ryan and Gael had joined Tony in the Situation Room to conduct the debrief. Tony recounted how Nina manipulated the suicide attempt to assist her escape, and was explaining her sudden appearance behind him with a scalpel blade when Adam interrupted. "Tony, Mr Chappelle, there's something you need to see."

"What is it Adam?" Chappelle demanded.

Adam walked across to the computer and pulled up the hourly reports from Interpol. "There is a flagged item from the Russians regarding a dozen pathogen dispersal units missing from an armoury in the Ukraine."

"That means we could be looking at as many as twelve potential targets. We need to redouble our effort to locate this virus. Tony, make sure everyone is brought up to speed on this new information. I'll let Jack know the situation and make sure the Nina is immediately prepared for interrogation. Meet us in Holding Room 1 once you have finished up here." Chappelle ordered.

Reaching for the phone, Tony dialled Michelle's extension.

"CTU, Dessler" Michelle responded

"Michelle, there's been a development. Assemble all department heads in the Situation Room for a briefing in 2 minutes."

"OK" Michelle agreed. Hanging up, she walked into the middle of the bullpen and called everyone to attention to announce the briefing before heading across to join Tony in the Situation room. Tony had taken Adam's place in front of the computer to access Interpol and examine the Russian intelligence. Michelle sat beside him and assisted in the preparation of the information for presentation at the briefing.

3:04 Saunders arrives at the club to collect the virus from Amador.

3:05 CTU briefing in which Tony & Michelle pass on the Russian intelligence.
(A/N: Tony's opening comment about Nina's death, and his subsequent argument with Chloe over it, do not occur.)

3:06 Saunders demonstrates the denotation devise to Amador and Alvers, and the initial payment is made.

3:08

Having concluded the briefing, Tony headed over to Holding Room 1 to join Jack for round two of the interrogation. With Ryan Chappelle and Agent Dalton already present in the viewing room, Michelle had opted to return to her search. Entering the viewing room, Tony walked over to Jack who was intently studying Nina through the two-way as a medic finished up bandaging her neck.

"OK Jack, how do you want to play this?" Tony asked.

"I need to make Nina understand that if she isn't willing to talk, there is no reason for me to let her live" Jack calmly replied.

"Remember Jack, we can't get any information out of her if she's dead." Jack nodded in agreement.

Chappelle interjected with an unnecessary reminder of the urgency of the situation, which they both ignored as they headed across to the Holding room.

Jack entered the room first, settling himself into the chair directly in front of Nina, while Tony propped himself up against the two-way glass thus making it impossible for Nina to keep them both within her line of sight.

"Hello Nina, ready to start co-operating?" Jack enquired calmly

"Jack not trusting you to run the interrogation anymore, Tony?" Nina taunted, turning to look across at Tony

Taking advantage of Nina's distracted state, Jack quickly slapped her across the face, forcefully redirecting her attention back to him. "Let me catch you up on the current situation, Nina. Amador and Alvers have the virus and a buyer has a dozen dispersal units with which to deploy it. We need to locate them now! Where are they?" Jack yelled vehemently, punctuating his final question with another blow to her face.

Returning Jack's gaze with a nonchalant expression, Nina remained silent.

Without breaking their eye contact, Jack pulled his weapon and levelled it at Nina's chest "Talk or you're dead."

"You can't kill me Jack, I'm your only lead" Nina countered.

"Your only a lead if you provide information Nina, if not you're useless"

"What guarantee do I have that you wont kill me the minute you've gotten your information?"

"I wouldn't risk the lives of millions of innocent Americans wasting precious time killing you when I could be out securing the virus." Jack responded, returning his gun to its holster.

"First Tony's intra-office affair and then your personal sacrifices for the job; it's nice to see that things around here haven't changed."

Barely seconds after Nina concluded her retort, Jack clenched his hand around her throat. His fingers dug into the sensitive nerves of the neck, sending spasms of pain throughout her body while his palm squeezed down on her trachea choking her. Jack continued to stare unwavering into Nina's eyes as she struggled to keep a neutral expression. As the seconds ticked away, the pain and desperation slowly crept onto Nina's face.

Tony covertly glanced at his watch and commenced the countdown, if Jack didn't let go in 90 seconds he would have to intervene. Not that he really wanted to save Nina's life, but he couldn't let their only lead die, and Jack was in enough trouble without an additional enquiry into his actions. Looking across at Nina anguished expression, Tony was instantly reminded of his own pain at the discovery of her treason. He couldn't even begin to imagine what must be going through Jack's mind; the internal conflict between wanting to make her pay for Teri's death and his sense of duty must be overwhelming.

Suddenly Nina's right hand moved, two rapid taps, the standard self-defence release sign. Jack cocked his head slightly in silent enquiry. Nina immediately repeated the sign, confirming her request, and with it a willingness to talk. Holding her throat and gaze for an agonising 5 seconds further, Jack finally let go and the silence was replaced with Nina's gasping as she attempted to regain a normal breathing pattern.

"Where are Alvers and Amador, Nina?" Jack demanded

Still struggling to breath, Nina croaked out "Water, please."

"Once you've told us where to find them."

"Downtown, the Central Motel. Alvers always stays there when he is in LA."

On the other side of the two-way glass Michelle gasped. She had just entered in time to hear last Nina's statement. Ryan Chappelle, monitoring the interrogation alongside Dalton, turned towards her.

"Michelle perfect timing, pass this information onto Chloe. Field Ops is going to need to access relevant satellite and video feeds for an immediate operation."

"Ryan, I just found a thread on Alvers and it indicates that he's in Chinatown." Michelle reported.

"Once Field Ops is set up for the raid on Alvers hotel, you may follow up on whatever secondary leads you wish." Chappelle replied.

"Ryan, my information is more reliable than Nina Myers word" Michelle countered.

"Nina knows Alvers, and Jack knows how to extract information. Get Field Ops moving now!" Chappelle ordered harshly.

Suppressing a sigh, Michelle turned and exited the room. As she moved back towards the bullpen, she glanced over her shoulder at the door to the interrogation room in front of which Patterson was standing guard. Nina had fooled Jack before, and she had nothing to gain by talking to them. Michelle reversed direction and walked up to Agent Patterson.

Raising the manila folder in her hands, she stated "I have information for Jack and Tony". Patterson keyed in the code and stepped aside for Michelle to enter.

Jack's questions had progressed in an attempt to elicit further information, albeit with little real success. He had just asked whether Alvers was in the habit of scheduling meetings in his hotel room when he heard the beep of the security keypad. Casting a quick glance towards the door, Jack noted Michelle's entrance before returning his full attention back to Nina who had responded with her third consecutive "I've already told you everything I know."

Michelle walked directly across the room towards Tony without looking across at either Jack or Nina. Meeting her gaze, Tony raised an eyebrow in enquiry to her presence. Wordlessly Michelle lifted the manila folder indicating that she had intel to share, as she closed the gap between them stopping so that their bodies were mere millimetres apart. Leaning in, she whispered her discovery into his ear ensuring that neither Nina, seated metres away nor Chappelle, carefully monitoring the exchange on the opposite side of the two-way could decipher anything.

After Michelle's monologue concluded Tony audibly enquired "This has been verified?"

Michelle took a half step back into the corner, handing across the folder while responding "Yes."

Tony opened the folder and rapidly perused its contents, before walking across to stand beside Jack. "Can you even tell the difference between the truth and your lies anymore Nina?" Tony questioned, as he placed the folder in front of Jack. Resting both palms on the table, Tony leaned forward until he was face to face with Nina, then continued "This is your last chance, tell us about Chinatown!"

Nina stared straight back at Tony with a smirk.

After taking a few seconds to flick through the contents of the folder, Jack dropped a photo of Nina and Alvers entering a run-down building in Chinatown in front of her. Raising his gaze to meet Nina's, he proceeded to wordlessly withdraw his gun and shoot her point blank in the shoulder. As the sound of the bullet revibrating and Nina's initial groans subsided, Jack stated dispassionately "Given your blood loss from the earlier neck wound, I'll estimate you have less than 5 minutes until you bleed to death. Tell me the address and I'll call a medic."

"10 Lei Min Way" Nina gasped out.

"We need a medic in here now, and get Chloe processing that address." Tony ordered as he moved to stem Nina's bleeding once again.

Jack was immediately on his feet and racing towards the door. "I'll prep my team, I want you running tactical with Chloe" Jack informed Tony, as he punched in the security code for the door. Before exiting, he glanced back at Michelle who had stepped forward to assist Tony "Good work, Michelle."

3:15

A/N: At this point, the Season 3 story line continues as originally aired.

For those readers who have recently watched Season 3, or have seen it enough times to know it verbatim, the following scenes would also require modification:
- 3:18 Kim's discussion about Nina's death with her dad before Jack and Chase leave CTU for the club.
- 3:23 Kim's call to Chase to provide directions and stating that they still will not have an address for another few minutes.
- 3:45 Tony's anger, although not his over protectiveness, at Michelle as she leaves for the Chandler Plaza Hotel
- 3:51 Michelle mentioning to Gael her on-going problems with Tony.

It appears the butterfly flapping its wings in China really does have an effect on the rainfall in Brazil. Given that I only changed 3 scenes (16 minutes), the ripple effect is considerable! The major outcome of my mini-chaos experiment is that Nina will be around to witness Tony being charged with treason…

To be continued…