24

Tanner, Emerson spoke to his man inside the Bureau.

- He says you're clear. - Good.

I need to prep my men on the next job. Tell me what we need.

I'll give you the specs when I get there.

I'll engage him. Cover my flank.

I can handle it.

I don't understand. Almeida was orchestrating these attacks.

If he doesn't have the C.I.P. device, who does?

Almeida's working for the Juma regime.

This is Colonel Iké

Dubaku. We demand an immediate withdrawal...

of the U.S. naval strike force by this time tomorrow.

The American troops are still in position near our country.

President Taylor just received your demands.

Then perhaps it is time for a more forceful demonstration.

I know about Samantha Roth.

She's hiding something about my son's murder.

- Roger wasn't murdered. - I wasn't completely honest with you.

What do you mean? Roger didn't commit suicide, Mr. Taylor.

He was murdered.

Jack, Tony is not a terrorist. He's working with me.

We're working outside the government.

That's why we have to get Tony back undercover.

Bauer, you're not gonna make it out of here.

Shut up! I said shut up!

Get down!

We gotta get you out of here and back undercover. Go!

- Tony, let's go! -

Renee. Security saw Bauer and Almeida...

getting into a dark-colored panel van.

What direction were they heading? West.

What's happening with D.O.T. cameras?

I've been trying. Traffic images aren't loading.

What do you mean, not loading?

Just what I said. The server's not responding.

The hacker must be jamming the

transmission. How the hell can they do that?

If I knew, I'd be able to get around it.

Continue checking ancillary security cams... A.T.M.'s, parking garages.

There has to be something.

Well, keep canvassing the area. Someone else may have seen the vehicle.

That's what we're doing. Fine.

Let me know. No luck on municipal cameras.

Looks like they have someone running interference for them. Damn it.

Bauer must've worked out this escape with Almeida's people.

I'm so sorry, Larry. That son of a bitch played me.

Had me believing the Bureau was compromised,

someone on the inside working against us.

I realize now it was him all along.

Don't... put this on yourself.

He played us both. No. I should have seen it.

This is fine. Take it downstairs, will you?

Bauer's facing a federal indictment, years in prison,

and Almeida must have offered him a way out.

Agent Moss? The White House is on line one.

Yeah, I'll take it in the conference room. Thanks, Erika.

I'm gonna make this right, Larry.

Whatever it takes, I will find Bauer and Almeida.

Throw in the C.I.P. device and maybe we'll be off the hook.

Janis, what's the status of that shooter?

He hasn't regained consciousness yet. But a print match is just coming up now.

His name is Alan Tanner.

He was former Special Forces, discharged after Desert Storm.

Discharged why? Medical reasons.

He made claims to having Gulf War Syndrome.

Tried to sue the government. Case was dismissed.

I wanna be informed the minute he's awake. Mm-hmm.

Sir, I'm connecting you now.

Agent Moss, this is Ethan Kanin. I'm here with the president.

What are you and your folks doing about this situation?

We put out an all-agency alert.

Everyone understands apprehending Almeida is our top priority.

How did he escape?

He had the help of a former C.T.U. agent that we mistakenly trusted.

A man by the name of Jack Bauer. Bauer?

Thought he was in the middle of a Senate investigative hearing.

Uh, yes, sir. That is correct. We issued a subpoena a few hours ago...

excusing him from the hearings in order to enlist his help in apprehending Almeida.

Now you're saying that these two men are allied? It would appear so.

My God. You and your people have royally screwed up, Agent Moss.

Without Almeida, we have no way of finding Dubaku...

and no chance of recovering the C.I.P. device.

Ethan, let's stay on point. Agent Moss, are you working any other leads?

Yes, Madam President... a confederate of Almeida's who was wounded earlier today.

Uh, he's just out of surgery. We're waiting for him to regain consciousness.

Do we have a time frame from the hospital on when that might happen?

No, ma'am, not really.

Let me be clear, Agent Moss.

Recapturing Almeida and Bauer isn't just your top priority.

It's your only priority. Yes, ma'am.

- Keep us posted, Agent. -

Bottom line, the Bureau is not going to be the answer to our prayers here.

I'm afraid not. How much time does that leave us?

Less than two hours.

Dubaku's demand is that our forces retreat behind the 23rd meridian within 24 hours.

Now, in order to meet that timetable,

the fleet and carrier air wing must start withdrawing by 1:00 at the latest.

Which would effectively end our mission in Africa...

and condemn another 100,000 Sangalans to a certain and brutal death.

On the other hand, if you authorize the invasion,

Dubaku will undoubtedly engage the C.I.P. device.

How far has the F.A.A. gotten with grounding aircraft?

Still over a thousand planes in the air across the country, waiting for clearance to land.

Dubaku could bring down any one of them at any moment...

or use the device for something far worse.

I ran for office on the principle of non-negotiation with terrorists.

How can I abandon that now, the very first time I'm tested?

And if I do so, won't I be telling Dubaku...

and the rest of the world that blackmailing America works?

Madam President, those are questions for the future.

We have a decision to make now.

What do you call this place?

We like to think of it as C.T.U... What's left of it, anyway.

- Jack. - Chloe.

It's good to see you.

It's good to see you too.

I'm glad you're with us.

I'm not with anyone until someone starts answering some questions.

Might as well start with you. Why the hell are you not dead?

I was dead, Jack.

For almost 10 minutes, or so I was told.

- By who? - By him.

His name's David Emerson. I don't know who he paid off at C.T.U.,

but it was his people who injected my body with a hypothermic compound,

was able to revive me.

- Who is he, and what does he want? - Independent contractor.

Enlists ex-military and intelligence operatives, jobs 'em out to clients.

- Apparently, I fit the profile. - What profile?

Former employees with grievances against the federal government.

Emerson had been keeping tabs on me ever since I left C.T.U.

After Michelle was killed, he figured I'd make a good recruit.

And everyone else thinking you're dead, so much the better.

Yeah.

And since then you've been working undercover to expose his operation?

No, Jack. What?

I was really working for him.

I was angry.

I hated the federal government for what it took from me.

I ran Emerson's crew for more than three years,

and I did some pretty bad things.

What made you turn against him?

The C.I.P. device.

Emerson had my crew stealing components to breach the firewall.

I knew what that meant.

Innocent Americans would die, and I didn't sign up for that. - Damn it, Tony.

- Why didn't you call the authorities? - He couldn't, Jack.

- Why not? - He found out Emerson's client was Dubaku.

That's who you believe has agents inside the government.

The Juma regime controls Sangala's vast diamond wealth.

Dubaku hasn't been shy about throwing it around.

How widespread is the corruption? Pervasive.

That's why Tony came to me. He didn't know how far or high up this thing went.

Dubaku's the key to this thing, Jack.

If we're gonna uncover the conspiracy,

we have to get to him before he leaves the U.S.

That's why I have to get back under as soon as possible.

There's a new job in the pipeline for me and my crew. I don't have all the details,

but I do know that it'll get me in the same room with Dubaku himself.

Challenge is going to be reinstalling Tony with Emerson.

We have to assume Emerson knew Tony was in F.B.I. custody and somehow managed to escape.

Emerson's gonna think Tony made a deal with the U.S. Attorney. -That's right.

- I can help you with this. - Yes, you can.

Outside of the three of you, who else is involved in this operation?

It's just us. This is it.

Please at least tell me that you've got some proof that this conspiracy exists.

Yes, we do. But only at the lowest level.

At this point, we've just begun to scratch the surface.

Okay. I'll work with you.

But only because right now, you are the only people that I trust.

You give me one reason to question that, and I swear I will turn you in.

You understand?

All right. Chloe, set up the call with Emerson.

I found two freelancers who might work... ex-Rangers.

Trust 'em? Yeah.

I've worked with them before. They're close. Litvak knows them too.

Okay. They may want to know more about the job before they sign on.

Only thing they need to know is what it pays.

- All right. -

Yeah? It's me.

Tony.

- Where are you? - I'm at a parking garage, getting a car.

- I got away from the F.B.I. - Yeah, I heard.

I also heard it was Jack Bauer who broke you out.

That's right. That doesn't make any sense, Tony.

Bauer's working for them. He helped capture you.

It's only because he didn't have a choice. He's on board now.

What do you mean, on board?

You heard about the Senate hearings this morning?

They're gonna file criminal charges against him.

I told Bauer that if he helped us out with the mission,

we could get him out of the country.

Look, David. If it weren't for Jack, I'd still be in custody.

We can use him. I'm tellin' you.

I don't know, Tony. Morgan's hiring new men now.

Morgan's a thug! He can't run point on something this important.

Let me do it like we planned. Bauer could take Tanner's place, and we're good to go.

All right, bring Bauer. We're at 2211 Chesterfield.

It's right off Nolan. Got it.

- He buy it? - We'll see.

Mr. Taylor. I understand you were looking for me.