Let me speak to Audrey.
Her wellbeing is entirely up to you, Mr. Bauer.
What we want is the component from the triggering mechanism.
The FB-sub-circuit board.
You give me the component, I give you Audrey.
- Stand down, Jack! - I can't.
- I won't say it again. Drop it! - Agent Doyle, I am following orders...
Take him out!
It's my understanding, Jack, that component holds the key to Russian defense codes.
The Chinese need to believe I will go through with this exchange.
I will destroy that circuit board with a concealed charge of C4.
- You'll sacrifice yourself? - If I have to.
You're asking me to sign off on a suicide mission.
Mr. President, you owe me.
I want you to help me retrieve one of those circuit boards.
I'm sending it.
The Russians have kept that out of Chinese hands for years.
- I did it for Jack. - What will the Russians say
when they find we gave it to them?
- It's not gonna get that far. - You have to tell Buchanan.
Chloe, I want you to stand down on this.
You've shown me I can't trust you.
First, I wanna say that I am grateful to report
that all nuclear devices have been recovered.
Based on the intelligence, I can say with full confidence
that... that... that we will...
Call Medical right away.
Notify the Senate. Have the SecDef and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
authorize me under the 25th Amendment.
Wayne Palmer issued a finding
allowing Jack Bauer to hand Russian technology over to the Chinese
in exchange for the return of a covertly held hostage.
Bauer has guaranteed that the technology will not fall into the hands of the Chinese.
Even Jack Bauer can't guarantee that outcome.
Tell CTU to stop Bauer.
CTU has the signal. They're monitoring the device.
We're set. Let's go.
Doyle.
Noah Daniels is acting president.
He wants the operation shut down and Jack brought back to CTU.
Understood.
- Don't you move. - Jack...
Slowly, I want you to pull over.
Now.
This is gonna end badly, Jack. You can't go against the White House!
Wait! Wait! Stop! Stop!
Stop! Stop!
Wait, wait, stop the car! Stop!
Stop!
Stop! Stop!
What the hell? Are you crazy?
- I'm a federal agent. I need the vehicle. - Where's your badge?
- Pressman. - It's Doyle. I need to speak with Buchanan.
Hold on. Sir, Doyle's on line one.
Mike, do you have Jack in custody?
No. He got the drop on me before I could get the component.
- Where are you? - In a vehicle in pursuit.
- Morris, do you have Jack's position? - Yeah.
- Heading north on the 180. - Copy that.
- Mike, Jack's gonna disengage that tracker. - I'll get him before he does.
All right, listen up. Jack Bauer's gone rogue.
He has in his possession the FB-sub-circuit board. Mike Doyle is in pursuit.
He needs all available resources to stop Jack before he gives it to the Chinese.
Chloe.
- I need you on task. - You said...
I know what I said.
I need my best people looking for Jack.
Can I trust you to help me do that?
- Yes, sir. - Good. Thank you.
That's bloody marvelous. I just lost Jack's signal.
- How'd you do that? - I didn't do anything. It just disappeared.
- There must be something in the transit path. - You don't have to state the obvious, Chloe.
This doesn't have to be personal.
It's not personal. This road runs along the main voltage feed for the valley.
Jack is using the power lines as a shield while he separates the tracker from the board.
Can you keep an eye on things? Can you?
I have to explain this to Buchanan.
Hey, I thought you got sidelined.
Buchanan wants me to help find Jack. Now he's dumped the tracker.
- Did you pull up Caltrans? - Yeah.
I can't believe Jack would give the board to the Chinese.
Jack would die before he gives up that component.
I agree with you. The question is, would Jack give up Audrey's life?
Exactly.
Look, uh, I'll check the satellites, see if they've restored any coverage in that area.
If you find anything, send it to me, Doyle and LAPD.
- How much farther? - We lost Jack eight miles north of you.
He used the power lines as a shield while he removed the tracker.
- See if you can pick up a trail. - I'll call you back when I get closer.
- Thank you, Morris. - All right.
I have a brief statement and I will not be taking any questions at this time.
The president is en route to Bethesda Naval Hospital and will arrive shortly.
The doctors have no idea whether or not President Palmer will come out of this coma.
Vice President Daniels will be addressing the country at 9am Eastern time. Thank you.
That's all, everyone.
- Tom. - Yes, sir.
- Stick around. I wanna talk to you. - All right, sir.
We need to clear the air, you and I.
You still have evidence that could hurt me, and I'd like to know what your intentions are.
Truthfully, sir, I haven't given it much thought.
Why don't you think about it now?
All right, sir.
It concerns me that you engaged in conspiracy and perjury
to achieve political ends.
I don't think that's behavior befitting the acting President of the United States.
Tom,
the world has changed in the last half-hour.
Right now this country above all needs stability.
If I'm brought up on charges, then America's left without elected leadership.
Sir, I made that tape both to back you off your challenge to President Palmer,
but also to protect me.
Now, that was and remains my only reason.
- What about forcing my resignation? - That was Wayne Palmer's idea, not mine.
So
you're OK, then, with me in this chair?
Sir, it's no secret that policywise you and I are in alignment.
I just simply hate how we got here.
Now that we are here...
Yes, sir. You have my support.
In the event that we ever get out of alignment,
I can't have you holding this evidence over my head.
That's understood, sir. You have my word.
All right, Tom.
Glad to have you with me.
Now, what do you suggest we do with Karen Hayes? Will she slow us down?
Well, of course she might, but she is smart. She brings balance.
Fine, then she stays.
- May I let her know, sir? - Sure.
Tom.
- Thank you. - Thank you, sir.
Yes?
I just passed mile marker 49. I have the sub-circuit board.
Good. Go east on the 118...
No. From this point forward we do this my way.
Don't test me, Mr. Bauer.
Yes, I want the component, but Audrey Raines' life means nothing to me.
Listen. CTU is looking for me. They want to stop the exchange.
I know their satellite coverage. I need to pick the location.
All right. Where?
There's an abandoned motel called the Calderone off highway 305.
Come through the front door alone. We'll make the exchange there.
We both have a chance to get what we want here, Mr. Bauer.
Don't attempt anything foolish.
We're leaving now, Ms Raines.
I spoke with Bill and he assures me that CTU has deployed all its resources to find Bauer.
I don't wanna hear about their assurances, Karen. They let Bauer steal the component.
Well, if I may, sir, I could authorize ancillary agencies to join the search.
That would increase our chances of finding Bauer.
Do it.
Is there anything else you need from me?
Is there anything else I need from you? Let me think.
I have the fate of the West, the lives of millions hanging in the balance
and I can't stop thinking about you.
I'm not sure this is appropriate behavior, Mr. Acting President.
Well, there's the phone. Call the media.
Tell them the acting president's a dirty old man.
They already know.
I would like for you to
spend what's left of the night.
I'll go home and pick up a change of clothes.
Good.
- I'm at the Tampa exit by the power lines. - You match the last coordinates Morris had.
The White House is telling me if the Chinese get a hold of this sub-circuit board
we'll have an international incident.
- I know the stakes, Bill. - Have you figured out where Jack's headed?
I'm working on it now.
It looks like he headed east. What's up ahead?
- Two steep routes, the 305 and the 98. - Do you have satellite on both?
No. The radiation made the area hard to cover. The 98 has Caltrans cameras. I'll check them.
No, don't bother. Jack would know about those. He's on the 305.
Check the cell towers. See if you can pick up a call between Jack and Cheng.
I think I saw Jack pick up one of the terrorists' phones at the warehouse.
Chloe's got that grid on her system.
- Who was that? - Doyle. He thinks Jack's on the 305.
- How did he know? - He figured it out.
Pull the logs on grid 19-12. Get everything off that cell tower from the last 15 minutes.
- What am I looking for? - Jack's using one of the terrorist's phones.
- Check all outgoing calls. - We'll get it.
- What is this? - Decryption schemes from the cell towers.
We're looking for a conversation between Jack and Cheng.
- Why didn't you speak to me first? - I don't know. That's just the way I did it.
We're being a little hostile, aren't we?
Fine. But I didn't just get there. You pushed me halfway.
You're right. It's all my fault.
I didn't say it's all your fault. I said halfway. 50%. 0.5. See, you don't listen to me.
- That's why I just sent it to your screen. - Hey, guys. What's going on?
My ex-wife is suddenly showing signs of irrational behavior.
OK.
- Do you know how to defrag Huffman keys? - Yeah. Why?
- Could you help me out? - Yeah.
Great. I'll just send the files to your system.
That's a really good idea. You should work with Milo, get cozy.
Would you please stop acting like this? I hate it.
Why don't you write down the way you want me to act, put it in a file,
tab-delimited the way Milo loves it, and shove it?
OK. The first item on the list would be, "Don't be such a jealous jerk."
The day I'm jealous is the day I kill myself. Is there anything else?
How about, "Don't arm nuclear bombs for terrorists"?
Sorry. I didn't mean that.
That's not how I feel.
Yeah, it is.
No, it's not. It just slipped out of my mouth.
Morris!
I'll call the FBI, get them to share resources with Bill.
Good. I'll...
Excuse me. Yeah.
OK.
Well, tell him I'll be right there.
That's strange. Peter Hock is in my office and he wants to talk to me.
- Department of Justice? What is that about? - I have no idea.
- Be careful. He's got a lot of clout on the Hill. - I know. I'll call you.
Peter.
Early enough for you?
So, what's going on? It sounded urgent.
You know I've been interrogating Reed Pollock after his arrest.
That must be pleasant.
Pollock's looking at a death sentence for his part in the assassination attempt on Palmer.
He's offering up everything he knows hoping we'll show some leniency.
- And what does that have to do with me? - Not just you. This involves your husband.
Take a look.
Listen to me, Peter. You and I both know that there are going to be endless hearings
- looking into how Fayed acquired the nukes. - And you know something about that?
I can give you information that will keep blame away from this administration.
- I'm listening. - I'm not saying anything until I have a deal.
- He's such a weasel. - In writing.
We danced around for 20 minutes, then he said this.
I'm telling you exactly what happened.
Bill Buchanan had Fayed in custody
- and he let him go. - And where's the proof?
Karen Hayes put it in a blue file over at Homeland.
That's a cover-up. And if you don't believe me,
I have recorded conversations with Peter Iannone, Kurt Hewig and Myra Mark
and they will all testify that she sequestered the file to protect her husband.
Do me a favor, Karen.
Save me some time.
- Is it true or not? - The facts are true.
But there's no cover-up here, Peter.
About two years ago we apprehended Fayed as part of an FBI-CTU border sweep.
There wasn't enough to hold him. He was one of many.
- He was maybe a mid-level player. - That turned out to be wrong.
Fayed wasn't part of a cell or funded. This all happened after he was released.
- So why was it blue-coded? - Every year thousands are arrested.
If there isn't enough evidence they're released and blue-coded. Standard procedure.
The only way to guarantee no one becomes a threat
is to deprive everyone of their freedom.
All right. If this was a no-fault, why did this carry so much weight with you 12 hours ago?
- Why resign rather than have this come out? - Come on, Peter. We were under attack.
I wasn't gonna let this information touch the president or my husband.
- They needed to lead us through this crisis. - Well, here we are, 12 hours later.
Palmer's in a coma, the country's in shock after losing over 13,000 innocent lives
and all people are going to be asking is who let this happen?
Well, certainly not my husband.
He has devoted his life to this country.
This isn't my call, Karen, but I think you know how this works.
Someone's going to have to go down, and the farther from the president, the better.
So what exactly are you saying?
It's going to be either you or Bill.
Bill would be my preference. He's lower in the food chain.
But you'll do.
Doyle.
We found Jack's call to Cheng. We haven't decrypted it yet.
The triangulation shows he's traveling north on the 305.
- Anything between me and Santa Maria? - Some small populated areas.
- When does the next one come up? - Nine miles from where you are.
Check it out and work on that decryption. I wanna know what Cheng and Jack said.
- OK. - We're converging on Jack?
Yeah. Doyle's...
- Excuse me. Hi. - Hi, it's me. You have a minute?
No. We're closing in on Jack. What is it?
We have to talk about something. Call me when you have a few minutes.
OK. Everything all right?
Just do what you have to do and call me when you can, OK?
- All right. - Bye.
- Yes? - Doyle's headed in the right direction.
We may have a chance to stop Jack before he reaches Cheng. He's going north on the 305.
About there.
Let me call you back. CTU made any progress in locating Bauer?
They're closing in but they don't have him in custody yet.
You were right about Hock, Tom. I need to talk to you.
All right, shoot.
Remember earlier when you threatened to use that information to damage Bill and me?
Yeah, mea culpa. Why are we dredging this up now?
No, no, Tom, it's not me.
It's Reed Pollock. He's looking for anything to bargain his way out of the death penalty.
He can't.
Whether he can or he can't, that ship has sailed.
Hock knows now that we released Fayed from our custody two years ago in Seattle.
- OK, OK. What does Hock want? - Distance from the presidency.
So, in other words, either you or Bill has to take the blame.
Yeah, but it's more than blame, Tom.
There's gonna be enquiries, indictments. Lives will be ruined.
Not lives. Careers. Or rather one career, and it can't be yours.
Well, I can't do that to Bill, Tom. He's my husband.
Well, he can go on being your husband. But he sure can't keep running CTU.
- If he goes, I'm gonna resign. - Haven't you already resigned once today?
That's Bill's signature on Fayed's release document.
You know, it's over for Bill.
It's not for you. I mean, you've got a job here. Just do it.
- Tom, how can I ask him to step down? - You don't ask.
You remind him that the man he let out of jail killed over 13,000 people this morning.
- Tom, he is not responsible for that! - It doesn't matter.
- He has been amazing today. - Look.
The only way for you to protect yourself is to leave no doubt in anybody's mind
where your true loyalty lies.
They got Bill in their cross hairs, OK?
You wanna stand shoulder to shoulder with your husband, that's your call.
This is Bill Buchanan. If your matter is urgent, dial 0.
If this is not an urgent call, please leave a message at the beep.
It's Jack. I'm about to meet with Cheng and exchange the sub-circuit board for Audrey.
Hopefully by the time you hear this she'll be safe and in your custody.
I promised the president that I would give him confirmation
that the circuit board did not fall into the wrong hands.
This message is your confirmation.
The circuit board will be incinerated in the explosion.
The meeting will take place at the Calderone Hotel off of highway 305.
Bill,
please take care of Audrey.
Thank you.
You've been a good friend.
All right. Yeah.
- Do you have a second? - What is it, Morris?
- I'd like to request a transfer. - Why?
I need to get out of Comm.
- You wanna elaborate on that? - Not really, no.
- You and Chloe having a problem? - You could say that, yes.
- Can we talk about this in the morning? - Nothing's gonna change.
- You don't know that, Morris. - I do. Look, please.
Figure out where you wanna put me. Anywhere is fine. Just get me out of Comm.
All right. I'll work something out that is good for everyone involved.
Thank you.
- Hey. - Did you wanna talk about something?
Bill,
the DOJ investigator found out about when you and Homeland had Fayed in custody.
It wasn't a secret. We did everything by the book. I can deal with DOJ.
Yeah, I know, but the problem is they're out for blood, Bill.
I can't let this touch me.
- Touch you? What are you talking about? - Bill...
Why is this an issue? Are you concerned I might implicate you?
- No! But there's guilt by association here. - They're looking for a scapegoat?
Yes. The press are looking for anything to attack the administration.
What are you saying?
I have to protect the White House and in order to do that I have to distance myself from you.
How are you going to do that? I'm your husband.
Are you asking me to resign?
No, Bill.
I have to fire you.
- Who's pressuring you, Karen? - Look, this is the only way this can work.
It has to be immediate or I'll be viewed as complicit
and my ability as national security advisor will be undermined.
Undermined? We're talking about the end of my career.
- You don't think I've thought this through? - No.
You think I don't know what this means?
- No, I don't. - Bill...
The public will make assumptions that don't exist.
13,000 American lives lost. I had the man in custody who was responsible.
I released him. It won't matter that I had no evidence.
Look, you know how this works. One of us has to take the fall and it can't be me.
I'm too close to the president.
I can't believe I'm hearing this. Who is pressuring you, Karen?
You have to trust me on this, honey. We will get through this, I promise.
And I love you, and that's all that should matter here.
- Is it? - Yes.
Why is it taking so long with Jack's call?
It just is. He used a double-length key to slow us down.
- We're going as fast as we can. - I'm off the highway checking surface streets.
Valley Cab Company. May I help you?
I'm a counter-terrorist agent. This is an emergency.
- I see no sign of Jack. What's north of here? - Nothing but national forest for 32 miles.
He could be in the Central Valley by now.
Wait. I might have found something.
- I'll get back to you. - OK.
Nadia.
Has Doyle found Jack yet?
Well, he might have a lead. He's checking it out now.
Come with me.
- I'm stepping down as director of CTU. - What?
- What happened? - All I can say is I have to step down.
No, sir, that doesn't make any sense.
- Why would you quit now, of all days? - I'm not quitting.
I was fired.
By who?
It doesn't matter. I've contacted Division.
For now you're acting director.
Mr. Buchanan. We've been ordered to escort you off the premises.
I'm briefing Ms Yassir. She's taking over as head of CTU. We'll need one more minute.
One minute.
We're in the middle of 50 different things. Why would they do this now?
I can't talk about it. You need to accept it and do the best you can.
I don't understand why they'd fire you.
You're the most ethical, dedicated person I've ever known.
There's no way you did anything to justify this.
Dammit, Bill, what is going on?
It's just politics.
Division will send over an interim director in the next few hours.
In the meantime you handle anything that comes up.
What about everything I've had to go through today?
- I'm not the right choice to take over. - I've lifted all your security restrictions.
You shouldn't have any trouble running CTU.
You are the right choice.
- I don't know what to say. - Stay on top of the situation with Jack.
I will.
No one else knows I'm leaving.
You have to inform them before it's posted on the internal forums.
I'll tell them.
What you said means a lot.
O'Brian.
Yes. Yep. Yep. Got it.
- Doyle just called in. He's found Jack's truck. - Good, Morris.
- What's happening to Buchanan? - He's gone.
What do you mean, he's gone?
I'm in charge.
Can I have everyone's attention?
In a few minutes you're gonna be getting a bulletin on your systems.
Bill Buchanan has stepped down,
which means that until Division can send over a replacement
he's named me acting director.
Nothing will change operationally.
Your objective remains the same.
Bring in Jack Bauer before he can hand over the component to the Chinese.
- CTU, this is Doyle. Do you copy? - Doyle, you're on comm. Go ahead.
- Do you have anything on satellite? - Spotty.
Well, I found our truck. Either Jack switched vehicles or he parked it and he's nearby.
I'm gonna look at the buildings.
There's infrastructure we can check using thermal.
- I'm on it. - Hang on. We might not need it.
- What do you mean? - A limo just pulled off the highway.
- Redirect nearby units to my current location. - OK. Send alpha and delta teams.
- Also send Air One, Two and Three. - All right.
Cheng just left the car.
That's far enough.
Mr. Bauer.
- Where's Audrey? - She's in the car.
- Until I get that component... - Nothing's gonna happen until I see Audrey.
I wanna make sure she's all right.
She's coming in now.
Audrey Raines is entering the premises.
I'm gonna need that backup.
- You have the sub-circuit board? - You'll get it as soon as I know she's safe.
Take the gag out of her mouth.
Wait.
I'll do it.
I'm so sorry.
You can continue this reunion later. How is this gonna work, Mr. Bauer?
Audrey walks out of here alone.
As soon as I see that she gets down near the bridge,
I know she's out of the range of your sniper.
Then I'll give you the component.
There's at least ten guns. I need the field teams.
Let's do this.
I want you to walk past the bridge 100 yards on the right side of the road.
There's a gas station and a cab will be waiting for you.
He has instructions to take you back to CTU.
You need to go.
This is going down now, Nadia. Where are the field teams?
- They'll be there any minute. - I need to do something now.
Jack is about to hand over the component.
Mike, don't let that happen.
Give me the circuit board or I'll kill her.
Stay where you are.
- This is Air One. Do you copy? - Go ahead.
Cheng and his men have escaped. They're in three black Hummers heading north.
- They're traveling off road. - Pursue and engage.
We've been hit! CTU, this is Air One. We're going down. I repeat, we're going down.
- Weapons down! - Get on the ground now!
- Who is your commanding officer? - I am, Jack.
Stand him up.
- Where's the sub-circuit board? - Cheng's got it.
I was set to blow the building and destroy it till you engaged us in a fight.
Here's the detonator.
- What's the problem? - We don't have Cheng.
- What? - The teams didn't have time to get into place.
We had to make a frontal assault. He must've escaped out the rear. Nadia, did you get that?
We've got a chopper down. We need other choppers.
The choppers should be there in five minutes. They reported seeing Cheng and his men
traveling in three black Hummers in the mountains, off road, traveling north.
- Copy that. - Now place Jack under arrest.
Understood.
- Is he gone? - Yeah. I gotta take you into custody, Jack.
I had this handled. Why the hell didn't you listen to me?
Audrey, it's over. You're safe.
- Help me. Don't let them do this to me. - Audrey...
- Help me, Jack. Don't let them do this to me. - Audrey!
It's me. I'm right here.
Do you even know who I am?
Sit her down.
Audrey. Audrey.
- They've done something to her. Help her. - We will. Let's go, Jack.
My God.