1.00pm, road near Frazier Park, California
Both Kim and Megan were now fast asleep, and as they travelled northwards on the Interstate, Miguel looked at Alex.
"How do you know Kim?," Miguel asked. He knew little about Alex, but had heard of him a couple of times. Alex wondered how much information was needed to answer the question.
"Me and Jack are friends, so Kim trusts me a lot, I suppose," Alex replied. Although this was true, Alex wasn't sure if it was a good idea to mention Nina, or that day in any way. He didn't know how much Miguel knew about Kim or her mother.
"You're not from around here, are you, originally?," Miguel asked, noticing Alex's Midwestern accent.
"I'm from Chicago originally. I moved here about a year and a half ago," Alex said.
"That's around the time Kim's mother died. Did you know Mrs Bauer?," Miguel enquired, and Alex gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter. He had not expected that question at all.
"For a short while, yeah. Teri was a good person, a great mother to Kim," Alex spoke, hoping that Miguel's questions would either cease or go in a more comfortable direction. Nodding, Miguel seemed to be content with what he had been told, much to Alex's relief. He began to realise that anyone who became close to Kim or Jack might ask similar questions.
1.05pm, CTU Los Angeles
As Jack walked into the room, his eyes and Nina's met, and the anger that came from both pairs of eyes was intense. Jack was in no mood to be friendly, and certainly in no mood to be formal. He just wanted to get what information he could out of her. What happened after that, he didn't know, but he did know that he would take any opportunity he could to end her life. Placing the pardon on the desk, he kept his eyes trained on Nina as she carefully read the pardon. She too did not want to waste any time, and so the battle began.
Back in the bullpen, Mason and Michelle were watching the interrogation on the monitors. Michelle, who knew little about either Jack or Nina, was learning a lot about the pair just from what she was seeing and hearing, but for Mason, these were two people he had known well for a long time. Nina's arrest had been a shock to him, especially as his idea of Nina was as a loyal agent who was a close friend to Jack. Of course, Mason knew now why she had been so friendly, and couldn't believe that a sleeper agent had gone unnoticed for seven years inside CTU. Suddenly, Jack grew angry and threw the table over to the side of the room, leaving nothing in between him and Nina. Michelle gasped as she saw this. She had seen anger from agents when interrogating suspects, but had never seen someone chuck a table like that. Then, Jack forced Nina's chair back before clamping his hand around her neck, sending Mason running towards the holding room.
Nina wasn't sure if Jack was going to let go at all this time, and as her vision began to turn blurry, all she could focus on was Jack's voice as he threatened her. As she was certain that he was going to kill her, something which sadistically satisfied her as it would have meant no information from her, she sensed someone else coming into the room and, as Jack's hand was released from her neck, she doubled forward and coughed. Hearing Mason's voice, she was glad that he had come in so soon to help her, but now she had to recompose herself and not lose the control she was barely holding onto.
1.15pm, Northwest Region Operations Complex, Oregon
Palmer was alone in his office, making use of this little moment of peace and quiet that he managed to get. The whole day was turning out to be one of the most eventful and stressful of his time in office. Not only was there a nuclear bomb out there threatening an entire city, his ex-wife Sherry had managed to weasel her way back into his life, and his career. It wasn't as if he was ungrateful for her help, he just knew that she was only doing it because she wanted power, just like she had been before the divorce. It had taken that eventful Tuesday in Los Angeles for him to really see the true Sherry, and it was not a pretty sight. He had loved her, but he didn't recognise the woman he had left behind that night.
1,20pm, CTU Los Angeles
Jack was back in the Holding Room with Nina, and this time he was sure that his tactic would work. Having asked Mason to raise the thermostat, the room was becoming oppressively hot, and it was obvious to both of why he had asked for the rise in temperature. Asking her a question, which went unanswered, Jack pulled out his gun and fired two shots close to her head, and Nina was visibly shocked. Walking up to her, placing the gun next to her head, he demanded answers, and he soon got them.
1.25pm, road near Lost Hills, California
Winding down his window to let some air into the car, Alex checked the time. Still a few hours of driving to go before they got to San Jose. He knew that Kim's Aunt Carol was expecting them, and was hoping that Kim would soon be able to return to Los Angeles, and the threat defeated. He had met Carol O'Neill only once before, at Teri's funeral. That had been a sad day, and Alex had been concerned that Teri's family would be offended by his presence, although it eventually passed by with no such offence voiced. Looking next to and behind him, he realised that all three passengers were fast asleep.
1.30pm, CTU Los Angeles
As Nina was escorted out of CTU along with Jack on their way to Visalia, Mason's cough began to worsen, and he hoped that he wouldn't have to leave too soon. The nuke was going to kill him whether it exploded over Los Angeles or not, and he was determined to do all he could to stop it. Even so, the effects were hitting him hard, and they were only going to get worse as the day went on. Sighing as he sat down, he looked around. CTU was still a literal bomb site, but at least everything was up and running again, and that was due in no small part to Paula Schaeffer, one of the victims of the bombs. They had tried so hard to keep her alive, to get the information only she had, but before she could be taken to hospital she had crashed, and there was no recovery for her. He had seen the look in people's eyes as she died, as if they were blaming him for her death, even though he had no choice but to get the information, and he knew that his final hours had to be doing as much as he could to help stop the bomb.
1.35pm, Holding Room 2, CTU Los Angeles
Gary Matheson was about to be transferred to a local police station to be charged with the murder of his wife, and as he was led out of the room, he decided that he would take any action necessary to get the hell out of there. Walking down the corridor towards the exit, where a CTU car was waiting, he was surrounded by two CTU agents, and his hands were cuffed in front of him. Suddenly, he tried to grab one of the agent's guns, and as he attempted to point it at the very agent he had taken it from, the other shot at him, hitting him in the chest. As Matheson collapsed to the ground, one of the agents called out for a medic. It was little use to anyone, though, as seconds later, Matheson drew his last breath.
1.40pm, road near Avenal, California
Alex had stopped at a gas station to check on CTU's progress, whilst Kim, Miguel and Megan had gone into the store to get refreshments. Standing near the car in the shade of a nearby tree, he waited for someone to pick up.
"CTU, Dessler," Michelle said as she picked up.
"It's Alex. I'm calling to see what's happening at CTU. We're close to Avenal, and should be in San Jose in a couple of hours," Alex replied, and Michelle wondered how to tell him.
"We're still not much closer to finding the nuke, although Nina is going to give us some information," Michelle spoke, but the tone of her voice made Alex suspicious that she was hiding something.
"Information? From Nina? Michelle, what have CTU offered her? This is a woman who betrayed her country and murdered Jack's wife for money," Alex spoke, and Michelle sighed.
"They're going to pardon her, Alex. She'll be sent to some other country and banned from ever entering the United States again," Michelle informed him, and Alex couldn't believe it. After everything Nina had done, she was going to get away so easily? He decided not to mention this to Kim at all, as Jack would probably want to tell her when this was all over.
"How's Jack taking it?," Alex asked, watching as the trio emerged from the store and went to the car.
"Not well. He and Nina are heading to Visalia, she has a contact there who is connected to the nuke," Michelle replied. Alex noted that they were close to Visalia themselves, and could only guess at what that journey would be like. Jack and Nina in the same vehicle on a hot day for
"OK. I'll call back again when we get to San Jose," Alex told her. As he walked towards the car, he mentally blocked Nina out and concentrated on getting to San Jose. Getting into the car, Kim asked him how CTU were doing.
"They're getting close, and it looks like the bombing isn't affecting them too much at the moment," Alex told her, before driving off.
1.45pm, Warden Airbase, Los Angeles
Getting into the plane that would take them to Visalia, Jack and Nina were in mood to deal with each other and quietly sat down without saying a word to each other. Nina, who was shackled to the chair as well as handcuffed, looked out of the window and thought of her imminent release from custody, although she knew that not only did she have to help stop the nuke threat, but that she also had to survive Jack, which was not an easy task for anyone, even her.
Jack was taking the occasional glance over at Nina, as if he were worried she would try something. His anger at her was being controlled for now, especially as there were FBI agents there who would stop him from going anywhere near Nina if he tried to harm her. Even so, he knew that he had plenty of time to get an opportunity to get to her, and if he failed and she got away, he could always go after her. As his cell rang, he looked to see who was calling, and finding out that it was CTU, he answered.
"Jack, it's Michelle. Alex called, and they are currently near Avenal and should be in San Jose by later this afternoon. I also told him about Nina's pardon," Michelle informed him, and Jack was glad to know that at least Kim was safe from the nuke. He hoped that Alex would not even mention Nina, never mind the pardon, to Kim and realised that he would have to tell her about Nina's release after all this was over. Taking another look at Nina, he saw that she was asleep, but not in the light, always on alert sleep she had back when they were together. This was a deep, normal sleep of someone with a clear conscience, and Jack just wanted to wake her up for no reason other than to snap her out of the sleep he felt she didn't deserve.
1.50pm, CTU Los Angeles
George was sat in his office, staring at the pills that he had been given to help him cope with the pain that his final few hours would bring. Sighing, he took a couple before washing them down with a swig from a bottle of water. Opening a drawer in his desk, he took out a photograph of himself and his family from years ago. His son, John, didn't talk to him much nowadays, but seeing as George was dying and had less than a day left to go, he wanted to reconcile with John – along with stopping the nuke, it was his last wish. Picking up the phone, he knew just how to get John to come to CTU.
"Ken, it's George? You know you owe me a favour? Well, I'm calling it in," George spoke, never taking his eyes off of his son's picture.
1.55pm, road near Coalinga, California
Apart from the quiet radio, the only sound in the car was Kim's voice as she talked on her phone to her Aunt Carol. Kim had explained to her that she was well on her way to San Jose, and had told her that she was coming with her boyfriend, Alex and the little girl she was looking after. After she had finished her call, Kim looked at Alex.
"Are you returning to Los Angeles after we get to San Jose?," Kim asked. Although she knew that he was supposed to return to Los Angeles, she didn't really want him to go back knowing that a nuke could destroy the city at any moment. It was bad enough for knowing that her dad, and his side of the family, were all within the possible blast zone.
"Yeah, I have to. I wouldn't worry though, because when I called CTU it sounded like they were making some real progress," Alex replied, telling a little white lie that sounded better than the truth.