7.00pm, CTU Los Angeles

Noticing that Tony had just come back into the bullpen from near the holding rooms, Alex quickly realised what he had been doing and approached Tony.

"Did you talk to her?," Alex asked as Tony sat down. Taking a drink from his mug before sighing, Tony looked up at Alex.

"A little, yeah. Not the most productive conversation I've ever had," Tony replied. He knew that she was only going to be there for a few more hours, then he would never see her again – if he was lucky – but the hours seemed to be going much slower than they usually did, almost as if they had wanted him to speak to her. Not that it was of any use to anyone, and he was sure that he had just confirmed something that Nina probably thought about him.

"We'll never understand her, Tony, and we'll never understand her actions, no matter how many theories we come up with," Alex spoke, his gaze fixed on the holding room door that he could see just a tiny part of. Inside that room was his sister, or at least whatever had replaced her.

"Probably, but it doesn't hurt to try," Tony remarked, his eyes fixed on his monitor. He had spent a lot of time since that day thinking about Nina, about their relationship and whether or not her affection had been genuine or not. He knew that as he was below her in the chain of command she would know more than he did, so that made him think that she did love him in some way, but he also knew that she felt angry at being dumped by Jack for Teri, and that he was probably being used by her to get back at Jack, and that made him think that she didn't.

"How long do you think it'll be before she escapes?," Alex asked. Since her arrest, Nina was treated as unpredictable and highly dangerous by CTU, and from what intelligence they had, they knew that she would have quite a few friends willing to help her get out of jail, whether it was in California or North Africa.

"I wouldn't want to guess at all, but I'm sure it's inevitable knowing her," Tony replied. He considered himself lucky that he had only been in a short relationship with Nina for a few months, whilst Alex was her family, someone who was forever connected to her, and he had already seen and heard people whispering about Alex when he wasn't around, and he was sure that some people saw Alex as a possible terrorist himself, although an intensive investigation of CTU had found him innocent of any links to terrorism. The woman he once slept with, had kissed with passion and had cared for deeply had turned into some vicious monster willing to kill for any price. Now that he had the benefit of hindsight, he could recall a few moments where Nina had almost slipped up, even on the day she was arrested.

7.15pm, O'Connor Hospital, San Jose, California

Kim was standing at the window of Miguel's room, looking down at the street below. Cut off from what was going on in Los Angeles, she could only wonder how her dad and CTU were getting on. She had not been in San Jose for some years, and the last time had been with her father and her mother, when her family had been together and not torn apart and to pieces. Her childhood, which had ended the day her mother was murdered, was happy apart from the occasional arguments that her parents had in the middle of the night, and she had been amazed that the relationship had lasted so long, and when the unsurprising separation had happened, she had been sure that her mother was to blame. She had blamed her mother for something she had no control over, and by the time she had come to terms with it all and was hoping for it to be buried in the past, her mother had been killed, her father left distraught and her life seemed to be in ruins. A knock on the door caught her attention, and as she turned around a man poked his head around the door.

"Ms Bauer? I'm Eric O'Brien, CTU San Jose. I'll be out in the corridor if you need me," O'Brien, a man in his thirties with thinning brown hair and kindly hazel eyes, spoke to her, before taking a quick glance at Miguel. Kim nodded, knowing why the agent was there -not because of any threat, but so that she could be kept up to date with events back in Los Angeles. Thanking the agent, she gazed at Miguel as the agent closed the door behind him. Miguel was not expected to wake for a while, and Kim had mixed feelings about that time, because it would mean having to tell Miguel about his amputated leg.

7.20pm, car, Los Angeles

Although she was sure she wasn't being followed, Marie Warner was anxious. She knew that CTU would know of her killing of Reza and the two agents, and could only hoped that she would not be arrested before the plan could be carried out. Taking a quick glance in the mirror, she tried to calm herself down, and decided to pull into an alleyway where she parked up and got out of her car. Pacing up and down, she tried to relax, before pulling out her cell. Dialling Ali's phone number, she waited for him to pick up, but moments later she was still waiting. Ending the call, she climbed back into her car and decided to head for the airport, determined not to let lack of communication ruin the plot.

7.25pm, house, Los Angeles

As Alex pulled up in front of the house, he looked at the small bungalow with sadness. It had been home to Erica Vasquez for many years, and Jamey Farrell had grown up there. The overgrown front garden looked like it had once been a playground for Jamey and her siblings, and Alex tried to take these thoughts out of his mind, knowing that he had an important message for Erica. Although he knew that she didn't really need to know, and that she probably would be better off not knowing, Alex also knew that Erica would want to know about her daughter's murderer being pardoned. Closing his car door gently as he climbed out, he approached the front gate, an ornate metal structure that was jet black, and walked through towards the house. The door was dark blue, and had a small window close to the top. Knocking on the door a couple of times, Alex thought of how best to break the news to Erica. The last time he had seen her was at the conclusion of Nina's trial, an ordeal she had bravely gone through for many harrowing days, even when she didn't need to. Every day Nina would be watched by Erica, her deep brown eyes focussed on Nina's face, staring at the woman who had killed her daughter, who had consoled her inside CTU and pretended to be friendly. As Erica opened the door, Alex wondered if she could tell what he was about to say. Greeting each other in Spanish - it being one of the languages Alex spoke fluently - Erica invited him in.

"Is it about her?," Erica asked quietly, her eyes looking at a picture of Jamey that hung on the wall. Nodding, Alex could tell that Erica was already thinking of possibilities.

"This might sound hard to hear, Erica, but there's a threat against the city, and Nina had some information that has helped us greatly in stopping this threat," Alex began, and he was beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea after all, but Erica seemed ready to hear what he had to say.

"You know what she's like, and we had to give her something, Erica. We had to pardon her, but she will be in exile far away from the United States and will be monitored closely," Alex continued, and he could tell that Erica was thinking hard about the information. A few minutes of silence began, before Erica replied.

"As long as she isn't free, then I suppose it is a price worth paying, Alex," Erica responded in Spanish.

7.35pm, O'Connor Hospital, San Jose

Kim was sat down next to Miguel, her eyes looking at the clock on the wall every few minutes. She knew that CTU would keep her updated, but the evening was going so slowly for her, just like the day her mother was murdered. Realising that she was about to start thinking of that day, she tried hard to forget it. The year and a half since that day had been horrible, and Kim's relationship with her father had fluctuated wildly. She had been glad that people like Miguel and Alex had been there for her, and it had helped her begin to come to terms with her mother's death. After leaving school early, she had considered herself lucky to find a job looking after Megan. She had suspected Gary Matheson of abusing his family many times, but had never really seen it until today. Now Megan was an orphan, and she hoped that the little girl would be able to move on and have a good life regardless of the days events. Sighing, she took a swig of the coffee that Agent O'Brien had kindly got for her, and took a glance at Miguel, who looked peaceful. She had been going out with him for a few months, and was enjoying his company. The relationship she had with him had even helped her relationship with her father, although they still hadn't talked that much. Telling herself that she would do everything she could to improve her relationship with her father, she put the coffee cup on the bedside table and closed her eyes.

7.40pm, CTU Los Angeles

Nina was deep in thought, thinking of her impending exile to North Africa. She had no idea why they had chosen to send her to the Sahara, and could only assume that they had picked the location at random. Even so, she knew that she could find a way out of there, and was already reminding herself of potential friends who would prove useful to her when she did eventually escape. If whoever was going to keep an eye on her in North Africa was anything like CTU agents, she was confident that it wouldn't take long to get out of there. Taking a look at the clock, she realised that quite a few hours had passed since she had been brought back to CTU, and that the plot was a few hours away from either succeeding or failing, and she knew that if they succeeded, she wouldn't live to know about it - CTU was close to the heart of Los Angeles, and everyone in the building would be instantly killed by any nuclear blast. Nina wondered what Jack was up to, and she was also wondering if he would attempt to get to her before they took her away to exile. His whispered threat to her just a few hours before was still fresh in her memory, and she knew that he wasn't kidding, although she doubted that he would be able to get to her in North Africa.

7.45pm, Carol's house, San Jose

Carol was now alone in her house, as a CTU agent from San Jose had arrived to take Megan to her aunt's house. She was worried about Kim and Miguel, as well as the threat to Los Angeles, which she had no real idea about - as far as she knew, it was a major threat to the city that needed to be stopped that day. The whole day had reminded her of her sister's last day, and she was hoping that no innocent life would be lost, either because of the threat or because of some infiltrator. Having never met Nina, she had never had any idea what the woman was like, and it was hard to associate the terrorist and murderer Nina Myers with someone she was told about by Alex and Tony in the days after her sister's murder.

7.50pm, CTU Los Angeles

Alex was stood inside the room where Teri had been murdered, and he could almost feel the presence of something inside. Two people had been shot dead by Nina inside the room that night, and after the forensics team had finished with it, the room had been abandoned and stripped of all equipment. Now it was just a dark, empty shell – not that it had ever been much more than that anyway – and it was now just an empty room with slightly faded bloodstains where the technician and Teri had died. The hole where Nina had apparently kept a laptop she had used that night had been filled in, and in pencil someone had written "RIP Teri" on it. The divider which stood close to the door had also been removed, and as Alex looked at the pencilled epitaph he heard the door opening behind him. Turning, he was surprised to see Michelle standing there.

"This is where Jack's wife was killed, isn't it?," Michelle asked, quickly guessing why Alex was stood in an empty room. Nodding, Alex remembered that night, talking to Teri moments before her death, seeing her alive one minute then dead and being embraced by a hugely upset Jack.

"She didn't need to kill her, Michelle. I don't know why she did it, but Teri couldn't have posed a threat to her, surely? Even if she did know where Nina was going to go, what harm could she really have done to Nina?," Alex replied, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I don't know, Alex. Noone does except for Nina," Michelle spoke. It had become clear to her quite quickly after beginning work at CTULA that the events of that Tuesday had been both shattering and life-changing for many.

"She never gave any indication of terrorist activity, Michelle. As far as I knew, she was the woman I grew up with, the sister I loved. I keep asking myself if I could have seen this coming years before, but there's nothing. Did she go into terrorism willingly, or was she forced in some way? How long was she involved in terrorism? So many questions that she won't answer, and she keeps causing death," Alex spoke, his eyes locked onto the pencilled message on the wall.

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