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After killing the man trying to escape, Michelle
orders the other guests to stay calm. A SWAT
team surrounds the place and makes everyone
alarmed. Michelle is forced to fire her gun into the
air to keep the panicked people in line. She says
over the hotel intercom that an infectious
substance has been released into the building.
Anyone attempting to leave will be stopped. The
guests file back to their rooms. The dead man's
wife lashes out at Michelle.
Jack doesn't have an answer when President
Palmer questions why the terrorist used Jack to
get in touch with him. Jack has Chase call CTU
for a physical description from Alvers. They
should cross-check that description against
Jack's personnel files.
Palmer tells Wayne that they have no choice but
to give in to the terrorist's demands because he
will kill most people in America.
Phillips asks Michelle if everyone in the hotel will
die. She thinks that some of them are immune to
the virus because not everyone was afflicted.
Tony calls Michelle, and she is upset that she
had to shoot a man who tried to escape. Tony
assures her that she did what was necessary. He
wants her to have Alvers give a description of the
man who hired him.
As Dr. Duncan arrives at the hotel with her
Hazmat-suited NHS team, Michelle grills Alvers.
He claims that he doesn't know his employer's
name, but he met the man at a Go parlor in
Chinatown. Alvers describes the man and
Michelle feeds the information to CTU. Chloe
looks it up against Jack's records and sends the
matching headshots to Michelle's laptop. Alvers
doesn't spot the man among the photographs.
Jack, who has been listening in, has them widen
the search to include those who are listed as
dead. Alvers reviews the new set of headshots,
but this time he recognizes one as his boss. Jack
knows who it is. Stephen Saunders was a British
agent loaned to CTU from MI-6 for the operation
that brought down Victor Drazen in Kosovo. Jack
had thought Saunders did not survive the
mission.
Palmer and Wayne discuss how to keep the virus
threat from the press. Palmer advises his brother
to not use the term "Cordilla virus" when drafting
releases to not arouse fear. The President meets
with his Homeland Security Chief, Joseph
O'Laughlin, who suggests that the threat level be
raised to red and that airports and highways be
closed. Wayne is worried that this will cause
even more panic. Palmer orders O'Laughlin to
alert the airlines of a possible nationwide
grounding.
Palmer is interrupted when Saunders calls and
demands that the Secret Service pick up a
package from a mailbox across the street within
ten minutes. Before Palmer can say anything
more, Saunders hangs up.
As they drive toward CTU, Jack discusses his
theories about Saunders with Chase. Jack thinks
Saunders might have been captured and has
spent the last ten years in a foreign prison. Jack
calls a friend of his at MI-6, Trevor Tomlinson.
Tomlinson, who has already been briefed on the
situation by CTU, pulled up Saunders's contacts.
The only person not confirmed dead is a woman
named Diana White who ran a high-end escort
service. She lived with Saunders and passed
intelligence to him. Diana lives in Los Angeles.
Dr. Duncan prepares to run a nasal swab test on
all the people in the hotel, and she begins with
Michelle. The results will be available in two
hours.
Secret Service Agent Pierce brings the package
from the mailbox to Palmer. Inside it is a cell
phone that contains a sub-channel chip which
causes the signals to be untraceable. Suddenly,
the cell phone rings. Saunders is on the other
end. He instructs the President to call a press
conference within the next half hour on any
subject. Palmer must use the phrase "the sky is
falling" during the briefing. Wayne is resistant to
sending out this signal, whatever it means.
Palmer, however, knows that millions might be
killed if he doesn't oblige. He has his staff hastily
arrange a press conference.
Chase pulls up information on Diana White. Her
clients are very rich and very powerful. Saunders
has probably blackmailed these men to raise
money to fund his operation. Jack thinks
Saunders was captured and tortured, and he now
holds the United States government and Jack
responsible.
Tony frantically makes calls to NHS to find out if
there are any possible cures for the virus. He
tells Kim that NHS says there is a 100% mortality
rate, and that he feels bad that he and Michelle
had been fighting before she left for the hotel.
They are interrupted by Chappelle, who asks to
speak to Tony privately. Chappelle accuses Tony
of putting his emotions for Michelle ahead of his
work. He advises Tony to assume the worst, and
then turn his focus to getting revenge for
Michelle. Chappelle wants him to track bank
accounts from Amador's computer to find a link to
Saunders.
Jack and Chase break into Diana White's house.
Diana hears them, and she fires at Jack. He says
he wants to speak to her about Saunders. Jack
puts his gun down. Diana approaches him with
her weapon raised, but Chase knocks her down.
Diana tells Jack that Saunders left her and she
hasn't seen him. When Diana asks for her
lawyer, Jack says that she is being taken to MI-6,
an agency of foreign government, which means
her constitutional rights don't apply.
Michelle asks Dr. Duncan if she can speak to
Gael in his isolation. He has deteriorated quickly.
Dr. Duncan advises against it, but Michelle goes
anyway. She is shocked to see the boils on his
face and his bloodstained shirt. Gael asks
Michelle to contact his family. She offers him her
gun to end his own life, but Gael refuses. He
feels guilty because, when he was trying to stop
the cylinder from exploding, he hesitated out of
fear. If he hadn't hesitated, he could have saved
himself and the others. Michelle walks away,
visibly upset.
As they approach the press room, Wayne tells
the President that the FBI is ready to move if the
phrase "the sky is falling" triggers any suspicious
activity. The FAA is also prepared to ground
planes if necessary. Palmer steps up to the
podium before the throng of reporters. He
announces that the threat level has been
elevated to red and that the airports will be
closed. Palmer also says the phrase given by
Saunders. The reporters shoot out questions, but
Palmer is vague in answering.
Jack and Chase enter MI-6 with Diana.
Tomlinson says that Diana is the registered
owner of the address in Chinatown where
Saunders was last seen. Suddenly, a helicopter
rises to the window of the MI-6 office and men
with machine guns begin firing. Diana is killed.
Tomlinson is also hit, and he manages to tell
Jack the number of the server where the
Saunders files are stored.
Jack and Chase run downstairs, killing two
gunmen as they flee. They come upon four dead
bodies in the computer room. Jack finds a bomb
attached to the computer mainframe. He pulls the
hard drive out, and he and Chase run just as the
bomb explodes.
Michelle calls Tony with news that Gael has died.
She wants to make available to the infected hotel
guests the suicide capsules that are used for
agents who have been captured. Tony can not
authorize this, but Michelle has witnessed what
the virus is capable of. "I'll see what I can do,"
Tony sighs.
Jack calls Chappelle to let him know that the MI-
6 office was decimated, but he managed to save
the hard drive that was sorting information on
Saunders. Jack will bring it in.
Chappelle goes downstairs and sees Tony
grabbing suicide capsules from the cabinet.
Although it goes against agency regulations,
Chappelle allows him to take it to the hotel.
One of Saunders's henchman reports that Jack
escaped the MI-6 raid, but that the hard drive
was destroyed. Saunders is mildly saddened that
Diana was killed even though he ordered her
death. The henchman also says that there have
been inquiries from Chappelle at CTU into their
Cayman bank accounts.
Wayne briefs the President on the MI-6 attack.
Palmer is worried that what he said in the press
conference could have triggered it. Saunders
calls Palmer on the secret cell phone. He wants
Chappelle killed. His body is to be delivered to
the downtown train yard by 7:00. Palmer refuses,
and Saunders tells him that what is going on at
the Chandler Hotel will happen at hundreds of
locations around the country if he does not
comply.
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