Chapter 3

"Myers," Nina said blearily into the phone.

"Hello, Nina Myers," a woman's voice said, cool and confident. Nina didn't recognize it.

"Who is this?" Nina demanded, not the least bit daunted by the woman's knowing tone.

"Federal Agent Jack Bauer, access code Delta-575-Key, currently undercover in Ecuador on Operation Sky. Married to Teri Bauer, and has one daughter, Kimberly Bauer. Currently separated from his wife due to conflict." The voice rattled this off efficiently, not pausing for a breath.

"What the hell do you want?" Nina shouted into the phone. "How do you know this?"

"I have Jack Bauer's file."

Nina's heart started pounding. That was impossible! "Prove it."

"I believe I just did."

She had a point. How the hell could she have known Jack was going to be in Ecuador? Only Nina, Chappelle, and Walsh knew that. So how did this woman break the firewall to get his personnel file?

"What do you want?" Nina repeated.

"You have a strong connection to Jack Bauer, do you not?"

"That's irrelevant," Nina said defiantly.

"Still, if something were to…happen to him, you wouldn't be pleased, would you?"

Nina went cold. "What do you mean? Are you targeting him? What's going on?"

"There's a man in Ecuador who knows Jack Bauer's exact location…and if I give him the word, Jack Bauer will die."

"Don't!" Nina gasped. "Don't hurt him, please! Please, don't hurt him." She knew her pleas were useless if this woman was serious.

"If Jack Bauer is so important that I spare him, what will you give me?" The voice was taunting, mocking.

"Anything," Nina said fiercely.

"Consider yourself involved in an assassination attempt against Senator Palmer. At four in the afternoon tomorrow, you will go to the corner of Park and Randall. A man will be waiting there for you. He will inform you of your role in this mission. If you leak a word to anyone else, we will know immediately. There is another mole in C.T.U., a mole in addition to you, now. If you disobey his or my orders, Jack Bauer will die immediately."

With a highly audible click, the line disconnected.

What was Nina supposed to do. Her first instinct was to tell Walsh everything, but what if he was the mole? What did this woman mean?

She couldn't trust anyone now. She was just going to have to figure this out on her own. Maybe she could track them down. Maybe she could blackmail them back.

All of those were maybes that never came to be…

Nina woke with a start. She didn't know where she was at first. The room she was in was a dull grayish white and the walls, ceiling, and floor were cement. It was a prison cell, she realized.

Last night, or early in the morning, really, after she'd been examined, they'd let her change into dull blue slacks and a matching shirt. Convict's attire. Brilliant. After that, she'd been brought here.

Nina looked around. The door was a frame of steel bars and there was a window on one wall that was barred also. It led to another cell, and there were probably more after that. Meaningless rows of cells for meaningless people. Criminals.

And she was now one of them.

The door rattled and she looked up to see a guard there. "Breakfast. Slide the bowl and spoon under the door when you're done."

He slid a bowl of something under the door along with a plastic spoon. She remained where she was, sitting cross-legged on the mattress, until he left. She then lunged for the food. It was just cereal and milk, but she was starving, and not very picky.

When she finished it, she slid the bowl and spoon under the door as she was told. Nina sighed. What was she supposed to do all day long? The cell next to her was unoccupied so far. No one to talk to.

She supposed most of them would get visitors, but what about her? She had no one. She was no one. Never before had she felt this alone, and it hurt her. She couldn't deal with it.

She supposedly had one phone call she could make every week. Who was she going to call? Tony? What would she say? "Hey, Tony, sorry for betraying you. Sorry for still caring about Jack. Sorry for hurting you." Like that would work.

She sighed. Was there a way to get books around here? She wanted something to do. If she was going to sit in this measly cage for sixteen-plus hours a day, she at least wanted to be able to keep her hands busy.

There was a rap at her door, and she turned her head slowly. Anderson stood there with a file.

"Hello, Nina."

She groaned. "Hello."

He looked at her briskly and then lifted the file. "We've prepared your case to go on trial. In a week's time, you will be brought before a courtroom to decide your conviction, and punishment. I suggest you plead guilty, but hope for a sympathetic jury. Or judge."

"Thank you." The words fell from her mouth automatically. He nodded curtly, and walked away, his shoes clicking against the shiny floor. Click. Click. Click.

Oh, God. What was she supposed to do here? There was no one to talk to. No one to listen to her. She had never been this alone before, and she realized how vulnerable she was.

Nina curled into a ball in the corner and started to sob. She shook, uncontrollable spasms, burying her head in her arms, and let it all out.

(A few hours later)

Nina woke up to voices and clanging from the wall next to her. She looked over through the bars to the cell next to her to see three guards trying to contain a girl screaming bloody murder. She looked really young, barely in her twenties.

"Let me go! No! I didn't do it! I didn't do it!" Her screams and cries echoed off the walls as she lunged for the door as it closed. The girl collapsed to the floor, sobbing.

Nina rose to her feet. Whoever she was, the girl was visibly shaken up about being here. What could she have possibly done that was enough to land her next to Nina, traitor to her country?

"Hey," Nina said softly, peering through the window. The girl looked up, and Nina saw her face was bleeding, and her eyes were streaming tears. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

The girl stared at Nina, her dark hair falling lankly around her face. "What do you want?" she choked, her eyes wide and fearful.

"Are you okay?" Nina asked, resting her chin on her hand, and leaning against the wall. "What happened to you?"

"It's none of your business," the girl said coldly, running her hand through her hair. "Leave me alone."

Nina could see the girl closing her out, and knew she had to gain her trust. "My name is Nina Myers. What's your name?"

She hesitated. "Bryn."

"Hey, Bryn. How'd you wind up here?"

Bryn's eyes filled with more tears. "I didn't do it," she whispered.

Nina smiled reassuringly. "I know. You don't seem like the kind of person to do anything like I did."

She looked suspicious. "What did you do?"

Nina was shocked. She had no answer. "I don't know," she whispered, feeling her eyes burn. "I don't know."