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In a press conference at the retreat, the
President admits to the media that there is a form
of terrorist threat against the country. However,
he guarantees that there is no cause for alarm
and he will exercise judgement about what to
reveal. Avoiding the reporters' questions, Palmer
and Novick conclude that his statement will help
buy them some time.
As Nina holds Jack hostage in the Angeles
National Forest, she tells him that their
predicament is not personal. She only killed his
wife because Teri had overheard details about
her escape route. Unbeknownst to Nina, Jack
spots a sharpshooter in the woods, but the
shooter does not have a good angle. Jack walks
forward to bring Nina into the shooter's range.
She threatens him to stop, but Jack says that if
she kills him now, she will be in violation of her
pardon agreement. Nina moves closer to Jack,
and the sharpshooter fires, hitting Nina in the
hand. As she falls wounded, CTU agents
converge on them and take Nina captive. Jack is
saved.
Although Kim and Miguel try to resist being taken
back to Los Angeles, the policeman escorts them
to a waiting car. Before he gets in, Miguel fights
with the officer. A lighter falls out of the
policeman's pocket, and Miguel secretly palms it
in his cuffed hand. Kim and Miguel are placed in
the vehicle.
Novick relays to the President that CTU took
down Nina without seriously hurting her. Palmer
instructs him to keep Nina out of custody.
Although she will still be pardoned when they
confirm her information, he wants her delivered
to Los Angeles so that she can share the fate of
everyone she has endangered.
As he waits for the helicopter to transport him,
Jack goes over to Nina and whispers something
in her ear. Her face becomes masked with fear.
Jack approaches one of the fallen soldiers who
tried to kill him. On the dead man's wrist is a
tattoo of a coral snake.
Reza brings CTU agents to the Warner
Corporation building to show them the alleged
transactions. Agent Richards boots up Bob's
computer, and Reza guides him through
accessing the invoice files.
Kate watches as Mohsen cleans up the mess
from Koplin's bloodied corpse. Syed Ali comes in
and, speaking in Arabic, asks Mohsen why he did
not kill Kate. Mohsen wants to be certain that she
has revealed everything before they dispose of
her. They embrace, and Ali leaves to pray one
last time. In perfect English, Mohsen questions
Kate about what she found in Bob Warner's
computer and about whom else she told. She
once again tells him that she does not know
anything. Mohsen menacingly picks up a surgical
knife from the tray of instruments.
In a helicopter en route to the address that Nina
provided, Jack calls Palmer to tell him that the
soldiers who attacked his plane were either
Americans or American-trained. Jack recognized
a coral snake tattoo on one of the bodies as a
signature of an undercover special ops unit under
the command of Colonel Samuels that is out of
Fort Benning. The President does not know the
unit, and Jack informs him that it is buried within
the budget of NSA. Palmer wonders whether the
soldier was merely working as a mercenary
outside of the government. Yet Jack construes
that only someone with inside knowledge could
have had access to the shot-down plane's flight
plan.
Michelle notices Mason's worsening condition.
Becoming reflective, he tells her that his job at
CTU wasn't his first choice. He advises her to
find something that makes her happy instead of
waiting for life to happen.
The President asks NSA Director Roger Stanton
about both the Coral Snake special ops unit and
Colonel Samuels at Fort Benning. Stanton denies
knowledge of them, but suggests that perhaps
the Department of Defense secretly funded the
unit and attached it to the NSA. Saying he will
look into it, Stanton leaves the office. Palmer
informs Novick and Sherry about what he has
learned. Doubting Stanton's honesty, the
President wants him arrested. The chain of
events that occurred after Stanton's arrival -- the
crash of the ambassador's helicopter, the
evacuation of military out of Los Angeles, Ron
Wieland's release from custody -- all point to his
guilt. Sherry is quick to have reservations about
Palmer's decision, but Novick argues that
Stanton might possibly be impeding the search
for the nuclear bomb. Palmer agrees with Sherry
that they need proof before they make any move
against him. He demands that Novick find a
connection between Stanton and Colonel
Samuels.
In the backseat of the police car, Miguel shows
Kim the lighter. He tells her to reach for the
bandanna in his pocket so that he can set it on
fire. Kim resists, but Miguel implores that they
need to do something instead of heading right
back into the blast range. Kim pulls out the cloth,
and after Miguel lights it, she puts it into the grate
between the front and back seats. The officer
reacts to the fire, and as he tries to put it out, he
loses control of the vehicle. It swerves and
topples into an embankment.
Kim makes her way out of the crashed police car
and climbs into the other side where the officer
lays unconscious. She takes his keys to unlock
her handcuffs, and grabs the radio to call for
help. Miguel, who is badly injured, tries to
dissuade her. Yet she gives the location of the
car to dispatch with news of the two injured
people.
In the torture room of the suburban house,
Mohsen raises the knife and takes Kate's left ear
between his fingers. He asks her whom she told,
and Kate again says no one. Mohsen pierces the
blade into Kate's earlobe.
Outside the house, CTU agents on the scene
prep Jack. Two figures are seen on an infrared
image of the house, and they assume one must
be Syed Ali. Jack phones Mason and informs him
of what is there. Mason arranges for teams
around the city to be ready when they learn the
actual location of the bomb.
As Reza leads Agent Richards through Bob's
computer, Marie shows up at the office
demanding to speak to her fianc�. She leaps into
Reza's lap and apologizes for what she said to
him at CTU. Marie vows that she still wants to
marry Reza, and she trusts whatever he has to
do.
Mohsen wipes the blood from Kate's neck and
assures her that it is only a nick. He trains his
gun on Kate and she begs to be let go. Mohsen
explains that something terrible is going to
happen that will cause much suffering, and she
would rather die quickly. Suddenly, the CTU
team advances into the house, and Mohsen
hears a noise. He sees the shadow of a gunmen
on the roof, and instinctively fires holes into the
walls around him. Mohsen grabs Kate and yells
to the agents that he has taken her hostage.
When the agents do not respond, Mohsen
assumes that they want him alive. An agent goes
in with a shield, and as Mohsen fires, Jack enters
behind the shield and shoots Mohsen. Jack takes
Mohsen's weapon and retrieves Kate. Suddenly,
Mohsen begins to foam at the mouth. He lapses
into convulsions and dies. Since no one saw him
take anything, they assume he hid cyanide in his
mouth. Jack orders an analysis to confirm that
this man is Syed Ali.
Kim sits at Miguel's side in the overturned squad
car. He urges her to leave before the police
arrive. She thanks him, and pledges that she will
find him when this ordeal is over. Kim kisses him
gently. She runs off into the woods as an
ambulance approaches the scene.
Kate sits outside the house holding gauze on her
ear. Jack brings her a glass of water and drapes
his jacket over her shoulders. She tells him that
she and Paul Koplin were kidnapped because
the two men thought they knew something. Kate
identifies the man that escaped as Syed Ali, and
she describes what Ali was wearing. Jack radios
to another agent that Ali is still alive. Kate then
tears up when she tells Jack that her sister Marie
was supposed to get married today.
Sherry informs Palmer and Novick that she has
learned about a back channel communications
network called OPCOM that the CIA used to
operate. Although it has been shut down for
twenty years, Stanton had given an order to
resurrect it a month ago. Sherry's source is still
checking to see whether Stanton used OPCOM
to contact Colonel Samuels. The President has
Novick call the Attorney General to begin the
process of arresting Stanton.
Jack calls Tony at CTU and asks him to run a
background check on Kate Warner. Tony
recognizes the name, and explains to Jack about
his investigation into Reza and Bob Warner. He
also tells Jack that Bob does freelance work for
the CIA. Since no one in the family will reveal any
information, Tony asks whether Jack can make
Kate talk. Jack instructs Tony to connect the
dots, because for some reason, this family is
involved with the nuclear threat. Jack then radios
another agent to bring Kate back into the torture
room.
Novick uncovers the OPCOM channel, but he
needs a password to get in. Sherry finds the still-
active code of a retired personnel officer, and
Novick takes it to the O.C. Sherry then tells
Palmer that she is collecting the dates that
Colonel Samuels logged onto OPCOM so that
they can link it to Stanton. Palmer praises Sherry
for what she has done. Placing his hand on her
shoulder, he tells her that he is glad she is there.
Sherry touches his hand. "I've always been
here," she says.
Struggling to form a connection between the
Warners and Syed Ali, Tony asks Michelle to
draw up a list of managers and directors at
Warner Investments. Affected by what Mason
said to her about not wasting time in life, Michelle
garners up the courage to tell Tony that she
would like to date him. Although Tony is also
interested in her, he has been hesitant because
of what happened between him and Nina last
year. They agree to go out if their case is closed
successfully.
In the torture room, Kate recounts for Jack what
had happened there. She says that Ali and
Mohsen spoke in hushed tones. She knew it was
in Arabic because her family had lived in Saudi
Arabia when she was younger. Kate only
recognized the word for "prayer." Jack looks at
his watch, and radios another agent to locate the
nearest mosque. It is nearly time for Muslim
prayer. Jack asks Kate to go with him to the
mosque to identify Ali.
Stanton receives a cell phone call in the O.C. It is
Sherry, who says that she told the President
about OPCOM. She is working her way into
having Palmer trust her again, and she warns
Stanton not to talk about her involvement when
he is arrested. If Stanton stays the course as
they had planned, he will have power, but Sherry
must remain in place with Palmer.
On Bob's computer, Reza uncovers Ali's shipping
order for Agent Richards. However, it had been
entered last January when both he and Bob were
in Europe and could not access their terminal.
Reza finds evidence of somebody hacking into
the system through his laptop while he was gone.
Suddenly, a shot downs Richards. Reza looks up
to see Marie holding a gun. "I didn't expect you to
find anything," she says. Reza is confused, and
questions whether the last two years of their
relationship really meant nothing. A tear falls
down Marie's cheek, and she shoots Reza dead. |
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