|
As he is driving towards the airfield, Jack inquires
about Kim. Tony says that they have not yet
heard from her. Jack asks him to do whatever he
can to find her.
Kim limps behind McRae through the forest
toward his cabin. He notes her injured ankle and
suggests that she be taken to a doctor. When
Kim says it is not safe for her to go back to Los
Angeles, McRae asks if she is being accused of
something she didn't do.
Palmer enters the holding room in the O.C.
where Agent Simmons has been interrogating
Roger Stanton. Stanton admits to being part of a
group that wants to make Palmer's defense
policy more aggressive. They allowed the bomb
to enter the country, and permitted the Second
Wave terrorist cel to operate unimpeded.
However, Colonel Samuels' special ops forces
have been tracking the bomb so it does not
detonate. They were to remove the bomb from
play at the last moment. The President orders
Stanton to call off the mission and secure the
bomb, but Stanton says that the team has not
been reachable for the past three hours. They
are operating on their own accord at Norton
Airfield in Los Angeles.
McRae cooks up some food and offers Kim the
use of his shower.
At CTU, Tony asks Michelle to send transport
teams to pick up groups of Second Wave
terrorists named by Syed Ali. Mason announces
that the NSA and the President's command
center in Oregon confirmed that the bomb is at
Norton Airfield. He orders all agents sent there,
overriding Tony's directive to pick up other
Second Wave members.
As Jack drives with Kate, Mason calls to tell him
that Colonel Samuels' Coral Snake team, a
hostile paramilitary unit who shot down Jack's
plane, will prevent him from getting to the bomb.
Jack wants to know why the American military is
working with terrorists, but Mason assumes that
Coral Snake merely want to be the ones who
secure the nuclear weapon. However, this group
is acting as a rogue unit who can not be
contacted. They will treat anyone else as hostile.
Jack senses that something is wrong.
At the hangar, Omar gets the plane ready to fly
the bomb over the city. Marie spots police cars
pull up at the airfield, and she warns Omar that
they have been found.
Jack and Kate pull up to the emergency building
at Norton Airfield. He asks her again for her help,
and has another agent take her to a secure area.
Jack is met by Steve Goodrich, an agent heading
the assault team on site. Goodrich gives him
profiles of the soldiers in Samuels' Coral Snake
unit, as well as the schematics for the airport.
Jack then briefs the assault squads about the
situation.
Division wants to shut down Mason's CTU
operation because the site is not up to full speed
after the bombing and may be compromised.
Division wants to run the investigation
themselves. Tony tells Mason his frustration with
this news.
Kim finishes cleaning up, and McRae serves her
food. He asks her again why she is resistant to
returning to the city, and Kim divulges to him that
there is a terrorist nuclear threat. McRae is
surprisingly not shocked by this. He has
suspected something would happen soon
enough in this country.
Lynne briefs the President about what Jack is
facing from the special ops team that Stanton
described. Then Novick discovers that Stanton
had been working with a Senator from Michigan
named Gluck. Palmer suggests that they bring in
Sherry because she is close to Gluck and his key
staffers. He instructs Novick to give her access to
the O.C.'s secure databases. Novick and Lynne
trade looks of concern. When Lynne attempts to
tell the President about her suspicions, he cuts
her off and orders her to do what he asked.
Michelle voices her distress to Tony about
Division's stepping into their investigation, but he
says that it is nothing to worry about. She asks
about Mason, and Tony tells her that Division will
probably pull him from command once they see
his deteriorated health.
Agent Goodrich shows Jack a group of footprints
left by military-issue combat boots that lead into a
fuel depot at the airfield. The marks show that no
one has exited the building, which means that the
special ops soldiers are still inside. Jack leads
the SWAT team to raid the building. Yet inside
they find the Coral Snake commandos lying on
the ground. Each one has been shot in the
forehead. Goodrich asks, "If these guys are
dead, who's tracking the bomb?"
Inside his office, Mason readjusts a bandage on
his arm. He is clearly in agony, and puts on his
suit jacket to cover the bandage. Meanwhile,
Tony and Michelle lead Brad Hammond from
Division around the office to show him which
databanks have been damaged by the blast.
Hammond points out that they have the same
data at Division, where they should now be
running the operation. He orders them to shift
people to his Division offices. Mason hears this,
tells Hammond that will only waste time instead
of finding the bomb. Hammond comments that he
heard Mason wasn't feeling well. Mason shrugs
off this notion and demands that they not shut
down. His systems in this office are now
exceeding performance levels. Hammond, taken
of guard, has no response. Mason walks away,
and grabs his arm where the bandage is. Blood
is beginning to seep out.
McRae leads Kim down into the basement of his
cabin to proudly show her the bomb shelter he
has built. Yet when Kim sees the weapons and
ammunition he has amassed inside, she
becomes alarmed and runs out of the shelter.
McRae chases her upstairs to the living room.
She tells him that she was a bit claustrophobic
and afraid of the guns he has stored. McRae
boasts that if there is a nuclear explosion, he will
be one of the only people to survive. Kim says
that she needs to be with her family at her Aunt
Carol's house. McRae tells her to go if she needs
to.
Lynne meets Sherry on her arrival at the O.C.,
and she hands her access cards to the facility.
Sherry asks what made Palmer change his mind
to allow her in. Lynne avoids answering, but
requests that Sherry not deal with any of the
personnel and run everything through her. Sherry
is taken aback, and accuses Lynne of positioning
herself between Palmer's inner circle because
she doesn't trust her. Lynne cuts through the
niceties, admitting to not liking Sherry and not
wanting her to be here. "Well, now we're
communicating," Sherry says with a slight smile.
McRae packs some supplies for Kim to take with
her on her escape. They hear a car pull up to the
cabin, and Kim hides. A park ranger comes to the
door and asks McRae if he spotted a teenage girl
from a car accident. The park ranger explains
that the police had arrested her for kidnapping
and murder. McRae says that he hasn't seen her,
and the park ranger leaves. Kim comes out of
hiding, and McRae asks about the charges. She
tells him that she is not guilty. She then says that
she is lucky that he found her.
Palmer asks Sherry to find whatever she can
about Stanton's relationship with Senator Gluck.
She thanks him for trusting her. Novick comes to
the President with news that all six members of
the Coral Snake team were found dead, but that
Jack Bauer did not uncover the bomb. Palmer
goes in to see Stanton. He angrily tells him that
the plan backfired. Stanton is astounded, and
can't understand who else would have known
about the situation. Yet when Palmer says that
six of the commandos were killed, Stanton tells
him that there were originally seven soldiers.
Murdoch the tech comes up with a clearer picture
of the number on the scrap of paper, narrowing it
down to two tail numbers. Michelle discovers
from the FAA records that one of those tail
numbers is at Norton Airfield. Tony calls Jack
with the plane. Its location is hangar MD7.
Inside MD7, Marie wishes Omar good luck and
they say their farewells. Omar climbs into a
Cessna plane and starts its engine. Marie opens
the hangar door and leaves the building. As the
plane drives out of the hangar, Jack and the
SWAT team see it and follow it along the runway.
Jack has the Hummer he is riding in pull up
alongside the Cessna, and he shoots at the
plane's wheels. Although the wheel blows out,
the plane keeps moving. Jack then fires inside
the cockpit and hits Omar. The plane comes to a
stop, and the agents raid it. Jack sees the bomb
inside the plane and calls for the Nuke
Emergency team.
At CTU, Hammond hears Mason cough. He tells
him to get it checked out. Mason brushes this
comment aside.
Inside the airplane, the bomb specialist finds a
modification on the bomb and is unsure if he can
diffuse it. Jack prepares to put the bomb onto
another plane to take it outside Los Angeles.
Then the N.E.S.T. tech realizes that what he is
looking at is not a bomb but a fake one rigged to
look real. The plutonium residue on the device
means that there was recently a nuclear bomb in
place that is no longer there. Jack notifies the
other SWAT teams that they only have a decoy.
As Kim prepares to leave, McRae checks the
police scanner. He panics because all of the Los
Angeles radio stations have gone static, and a
station outside of the county reports a flash in the
sky. Kim looks out the window and doesn't see
anything. McRae gives her his headphones to
prove that all the stations are dead. Kim begins
to hyperventilate and starts for the door because
she wants to go to her father. McRae pulls her
back, saying that they have to go to the bomb
shelter. Shell shocked, she lets him lead her
down into the basement and McRae locks them
inside. Kim does not know that all is normal in
Los Angeles. The bomb did not go off.
Michelle gets word that Jack did not find the
bomb, and she passes this on to Mason and
Tony.
Palmer goes in to see Stanton again, saying that
there was no bomb at the airport. He gives
Stanton one more chance to come clean.
Stanton tells the President to ask Sherry. "She's
the one you want to talk to," Stanton says. |
|
