24
THE FIRST TWENTY FOUR MINUTES
THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE
BETWEEN 5:00 A.M. AND 6:00 A.M.
EVENTS OCCUR IN REAL TIME.
Hallstead, Pennsylvania
15 Miles outside of Binghamton, New York
05:00:00 A.M.
In the early morning darkness a lone vehicle made its way through the restricted back roads of north Pennsylvania. A dark camouflaged designed Humvee cruised through the rocky and rough terrain with ease. These restricted dirt roads were commonly used by the United States Military for special operations that mostly included the safe transportation of any type of weaponry or equipment from one military base to another.
Seated in the vehicle's passenger seat was Major Cody Hawkins, a young but tough man in his early thirties, tanned with short brown hair underneath his green hat. In his lap rested an opened silver steel briefcase. Hawkins pulled some documents from the inner contents and closed the heavy lid. His left hand wore a shiny metal handcuff, with a chain that linked him to the case. Inside this case the equipment being transported was a matter of national security.
As Hawkins glanced over the red-stamped confidential papers the vehicle abruptly swerved to the left, and spun as the driver heavily applied the brakes.
Hawkins grabbed for the handle on the door as the heavy all terrain muscle vehicle spun to a stop. They avoided colliding with something in the darkness. Hawkins spun his head to look out the back window in an attempt to see what it was.
An old blue pickup truck, with barrels piled in the back, sat, parked across the dirt back road. The windows were spider-webbed and the tires were flat. It blocked their advancement on the path.
"What the hell?" said Hawkins in suppressed amazement as he exited the door less vehicle and approached the seemingly wrecked old truck. The driver, a Sergeant Stephen Summers, reached for the vehicles radio and tried contacting their home base for assistance.
Hawkins reached the old truck when he noticed the rusty, dirt covered barrels piled into the back were leaking a fluid that smelled much like gasoline. It was also then that he spotted the small red dot that moved along the bulky body of the explosive barrels.
Before Hawkins could react, it happened.
A single gunshot fired from a silencer.
The explosion lit up the sky, and threw Hawkins to the rock covered ground. The Humvee, where Summers was seated, rocked forward, and tipped over onto the road. Pieces of metal, glass, and exploded material had rained down from the sky as a result of the explosion.
Three men crept out into the open from the bushes and trees that lined the path. They walked toward the destruction that had spread over the road ahead. The man in front carried a silver glock handgun. At the scene they had split up. The two men in the back approached the flipped military vehicle, while the man in front walked cautiously toward the prone body of Major Cody Hawkins.
The man aimed his gun low. He noticed that Hawkins was still alive. When Hawkins opened his eyes he couldn't speak, he had suffered tremendous trauma from the explosion. Blood tricked from his lips. He saw the man that stared at him, that pointed an automatic weapon at him, had no remorse.
The man fired. A second later another shot rang out.
Hawkins moved no more.
The man pulled a transceiver radio that was clipped to his belt. He held it up to his mouth and pressed a green button.
05:03:17
Inside of a black SUV parked half a mile away from the explosion Abu Ghariib sat alone, quiet in the dark when he heard his radio come to life.
"Abu," the voice said, "it is done."
Ghariib cracked a smile, and held up his own transceiver. "Well done, Jamir. When you have the briefcase, bring it to me."
05:03:33
"Yes, Uncle."
Jamir Ghariib looked down on the dead military Major. The briefcase was locked to his wrist. Ghariib bent down and pulled up his linen pant leg to reveal a black knife, strapped to his shin. As he pulled it off he heard a gunshot, and turned to see one of his men fall to the hard ground.
"Kamil!"
The American solder was still alive inside the tipped vehicle. He had managed to fire a shot at one of his comrades, Kamil. Ghariib was about to intervene when the other solder fired continuously at him through the other side of the destroyed Humvee until they both knew he was dead.
Ghariib quickly went back to work. He used the sharp blade to remove the dead solder's hand, at the wrist, so that he could take the briefcase. As Ghariib stood up with the case in hand he tossed the severed limb aside and joined up with his uninjured comrade.
"Let us go, before the authorities arrive."
As the men turned to leave they heard Kamil call for them.
"Jamir… Jamir, help me…"
Jamir nodded to the other man to take the briefcase and leave, and then walked up to the wounded Kamil, who had been shot through the shoulder. He lied, bleeding, on the ground.
"I'm sorry," Ghariib said to him, "but in your condition, you are no longer able to serve our purpose and will only slow us down."
"No…"
Ghariib aimed his gun at Kamil's chest and pulled the trigger.
05:05:09
Inside the bathroom in his apartment, Jace Maddox, a tall, 25 year old slender man with an average build looked at himself in the mirror as he buttoned the last button on his blue button up dress shirt.
"Are you nervous?"
Jace smiled as his girlfriend, Emily Barnes, wrapped in a towel entered the bathroom. Her reflection could be seen standing behind his as he grabbed for his black tie on the counter in front of him.
"Not at all," he replied. "I've been waiting for this for years."
Emily leaned in close to him.
"I know, and I'm very proud of you." She kissed him on the cheek and grabbed her hairbrush before leaving the bathroom.
"It was really nice of Richard to get you this position," she called back at him from the bedroom.
Jace finished with his tie.
"Yeah, it was. I haven't seen Rich in years. I'm surprised he remembered me when the job came up, seeing how I've been at the Bureau for so long." He took one last look at himself before he left to enter the bedroom with Emily.
"I thought I was never going to get anywhere by staying there."
Emily brushed her long brown hair as she looked into her own full-length mirror. Jace approached her from behind and placed his chin on her shoulder.
"Desk jobs are safe. The people who love you never had to worry. But now…"
Jace interrupted her as politely as he could.
"I would never do anything to make you worry."
Emily smiled. Jace turned her around to face him.
"I love you, Emily." Both smiled.
"I love you, Jace." They shared a kiss before Jace motioned her toward the bed so she could sit. Jace knelt down to look her in the eyes.
"I've fallen for you so hard, Emily Barnes, that I would never do anything to jeopardize what we have, what we've made." Jace reached inside his pants pocket and opened his hand to reveal a ring box. "If you'll let me, I want to spend the rest of my life showing you just how much I love you."
Emily smiled as a tear came to her eye. Jace could see how speechless she was.
"Oh, Jace…"
There was a pause between them.
"You don't have to give me an answer now," he said, "just consider it something to think about." With that, Jace stood, his hand held tight by Emily. He kissed her forehead.
"Good luck on your teaching interview."
She nodded with a smile as a tear streaked her face.
"We'll talk later."
Emily gently let go of his hand as he prepared to leave for his new job.
CTU Headquarters. Binghamton, New York.
05:07:48
Just past the entrance way, located on the cold, smooth, pavement floor of the government building rested a large yellow, silver and black painted seal that read: COUNTER TERRORISM UNIT.
Chief Head Agent in Charge of Tactical Stan Moore walked over the seal as he made his way toward Tech One, the communications sector on the main floor of CTU. Stan was a tall, black, intimidating looking man with a face of stone. He spotted programmer Samantha Margets, the Chief Head of Tech One. She was seated at her terminal, looking at the screen.
"Heads up, Sam." He said to her.
Almost on cue a red lined pop up filtered onto her screen. The pop up included a short bio and the picture of a man.
"What's this Stan?"
Stan now looked over her shoulder at the screen.
"Abu Ghariib. He was put on both the NSA and Homeland Security watch lists after he was linked to the bombing of two of our embassies in Northern Europe last year."
Margets studied the picture.
"FBI phoned us that they were tipped off about Ghariib arriving at the regional airport yesterday. Surveillance picked up his image leaving the airport and getting into a black SUV style vehicle. The vehicle is registered to a Habid Hassan."
"Another terrorist on the watch lists?" Margets asked.
Stan nodded, "With all the chatter we've picked up about a possible attack…"
"You think they're linked." Margets stared at the screen. "You go to Sheppard?"
"I'm about to," Stan mentioned, "First I want you to go back through today and yesterday's Intel logs and see if you can determine a possible target of attack from this new information."
Samantha nodded as Stan walked off toward Conference Room One where the CTU Director would be engaged in an Inter-Office meeting with District representatives.
"What was that all about?" asked Lewis Kennedy, a rather nerdy looking tech, second in command to Samantha, who was seated across from her on the floor.
"Nothing Lewis, I've got it."
Lewis nodded and went back to work.
05:09:03
CTU Director Leslie Sheppard stood at a podium in the Conference Room while her colleagues from District sat at the round wooden table. Behind her a map was projected on the wall. Tech Programmer Leon Kennedy ran the laptop presentation.
"Manning is being escorted on the train by U.S. Marshall Colin Fox. Once they arrive at the Binghamton Depot Train station she will be transferred over to three of our agents and brought here for holding until her meeting with the District Attorney tomorrow morning."
"What has been the severity of any death threats received?" asked District Director Paul Marshall, who seemed overly concerned.
"No more than usual. We believe the transfer and holding will go smoothly."
The meeting was then interrupted as Stan Moore entered the Conference Room.
"Leslie."
Sheppard looked to him. "Yes, Stan?"
"Leslie, we've just received Intel that possibly two subjects from security watch lists are currently in Binghamton. The Intel matches up with information we received yesterday about a possible attack in the area."
"Do we have any potential targets?" asked Sheppard.
Stan looked behind him as Samantha got his attention. They both entered the room. Samantha spotted Leon at the table with his laptop, and the two locked eyes for a quick moment.
"What is it Sam?" asked Sheppard.
"Oh, well I just answered a call from Pennsylvania authorities. There were reports of an explosion and gunfire in the north hills. Early reports are a military transport was attacked about ten minutes ago. Both solders were shot dead."
Sheppard and Moore looked to each other.
"Margets," Director Marshall spoke up, "what were they transporting?"
"Unknown sir," she replied.
"All right," Marshall said, "I'll contact their office in Wilkes Barre, see what I can find out."
"We should offer to send someone to catalog the scene," suggested Moore.
"You're right," Sheppard answered, "send Richard. Call down to Field Operations. Have him report to me before he leaves."
Moore nodded and exited the Conference Room, along with Samantha behind him. Leon watched her leave.
05:11:11
Jace entered the kitchen and set down his half empty coffee mug on the counter. He picked up his keys and turned toward the front door of the apartment when he stopped. He could see that the bedroom door down the hall was slightly opened. Through the small sliver of space he could see Emily as she walked around the room wearing her black underwear. She had been laying out her clothes to wear for her interview later in the morning. He smiled, not because of what he saw, although she was nice to look at, but just simply because it was her. He admired her.
Jace snapped out of his daze and opened the front door.
Outside the apartment Jace walked down the carpeted hallway and toward the exit door at the end. After he pushed the door open he stepped down the black iron staircase that led down to the parking lot. Jace pointed his Auto-Unlock and pressed the button to his truck and got in. He straightened up his suit jacket in his seat and started the vehicle.
The silver SUV then backed up and drove to the end of the lot. After a blue car passed on the street Jace pulled out and drove down the road toward the downtown area.
05:12:02
Nathan Scott entered the kitchen in his sprawling town house. He carried the newspaper with him. Fully dressed in a short-sleeved yellow polo with dark gray khakis he sat at the glass topped kitchen table. His house phone started to ring as soon as he opened the paper. Nathan reached up and pulled the phone receiver off the wall where it was attached to the base.
"Yes?"
"Nathan, it's Abu."
Nathan paused. He looked around and spoke softly.
"Did you get it?"
Abu sat in the passenger seat of the black vehicle as Jamir drove. They shared a look. Abu held the briefcase in his lap, and replied into the cell phone.
"Yes. We are in possession of the briefcase."
Nathan sighed.
"When can you be here?"
"We'll be there soon."
Both ends disconnected.
Nathan placed the phone back into the charger base when his wife, Angelina entered the kitchen. She wore her green nightgown.
"Who was that on the phone?" she asked.
Nathan opened the newspaper.
"That was Abu. Everything's going as planned."
Angelina poured herself some coffee. "Good."
She took a sip. "And now the rest is up to us."
Nathan looked to her. "You have the plane tickets?"
Angelina nodded. "After you get what they need we'll have to move fast to avoid the authorities. They'll be looking for you."
"I know." He reached for her hand. "But we'll be fine."
Angelina sat down with her coffee at the table.
"And what about Taylor?"
Nathan looked up. "She can never know."
With that Angelina reached for the remote control at the center of the table that went to the television, which sat on a stand in the corner. She turned it on and they listened as a breaking local news broadcast reported an explosion that had resulted in the death of two U.S. solders. The news reported an accident, claiming the military Humvee collided with an old pickup that was carrying oil drums.
Both sat in silence as they sipped their coffee and read over the morning paper. On a hook from the ceiling in the opposite corner from the television hung a pressed and decorated military uniform.
05:13:54
05:13:55
05:13:56
05:16:12
05:16:13
05:16:14
05:16:15
05:16:16
As he entered the front doors of Binghamton's CTU office Jace Maddox had his temporary I.D. Card ready for security at the door check. They quickly scanned it and pulled features from it that matched the man standing before them. After the positive identification was made Jace was handed back his pass and allowed to enter the complex.
Jace took a few steps inside and looked around. As he stood on the seal painted on the floor he could see all the terminals and offices. He admired the simple, yet complex scheme of the setting. There were many divisions underneath this one roof. Jace knew of Field Operations, where he would be working. He also knew of Technical Programming and Communications. All divisions were located on the floor, separated by walls made of fencing so that it didn't seem so closed off and people could communicate with different departments.
"Jace Maddox."
He recognized the voice and turned to see Richard Carey, his friend, and current Director of Field Operations at CTU. He was with another agent he recognized, Stan Moore, Head of Tactical. Jace held out his hand and shook Carey's.
"Good to see you again my friend," he said. "You remember Stan Moore."
Jace reached out and shook Stan's hand. "Of course I do. How are you Stan?"
Stan grinned. "Busy."
"I'm actually just on my way out," Richard said. "There was an attack on a military vehicle just inside of PA, about fifteen minutes ago."
"Yeah, I heard about that on the way over."
"Stan is going to show you to Director Sheppard's office. We'll talk when I return."
Jace nodded as Richard walked past him toward the front doors.
"Please follow me," Stan said.
Jace followed the man through the main floor level. When they reached a steel staircase Jace stopped him.
"Stan," Jace called out, "I know you're busy, if you tell me which one it is, I'll find my way."
Stan nodded. "At the top of the steps go right. It's the last office, all the way at the end."
"Thanks." Stan watched as Jace went up the stairs and walked toward the CTU Director's Office.
Stan then walked back to the floor where he approached Samantha in Tech One.
"Sam, I need a favor."
She looked up from her screen.
"What is it? I'm a little busy."
"I know," he said, "but I have a feeling we're focusing on the wrong attack."
She looked at him puzzled. "The attack was called for today. A military transport was just hit. It fits with what we know."
"I understand that that may seem like all there is," he said, "but look back over your Intel logs. If I remember correctly the attack was not only called for today but to expect a number of civilian casualties."
Sam wasn't following.
"There were no civilian casualties with the attack on the transport. Only military."
"Stan, you know that sometimes the chatter picked up isn't represented accurately in Intel logs. Sometimes it isn't cleared up for hours."
"Just do this for me," he said. "Or if you don't want to, let Lewis or Leon do it."
Sam nodded. "Fine. You going to Sheppard with this?"
Stan turned back as he began to walk away. "When you give me something better then I have now."
Sam sighed as Stan walked to the other side of the main floor.
"Need help with something?" Lewis asked her.
"Yeah, actually," she told him. "I need a socket opened up to work on Intel logs."
"Sure thing," he said, "Anything else, just let me know."
Lewis stood up and walked toward the CPU mainframe in Programming Tech 1 to open a second socket in Samantha's terminal.
"I think I've got it, Lewis," she said to herself as she turned back to her screen. It was a second later that her desktop phone rung. She looked to see where the call was emanating from and answered it."
"What are you doing?" she asked softly.
"I just wanted to hear your voice." Leon said on the other line. She turned back and saw him on the other side of Tech One at his desk. He looked back at her.
"Well that's sweet, but I've got a lot to do, and we can't afford to get caught doing this right now."
She hung up and turned back to continue her work, while on the inside, felt horrible that she treated him like she did.
05:19:27
Angelina heard footsteps and looked to the kitchen entrance. There appeared Taylor, her eight-year-old daughter. Angelina tried to hide her feeling of surprise.
"Hey, sunshine, what are you doing up so early?"
"I heard the phone ringing," she said, rubbing her eyes.
Angelina looked outside to the back porch, where Nathan was on the wireless house phone.
"Oh, honey, you're father is just taking care of some work business. Go back to bed."
"Can I have some milk?"
Angelina smiled. "Of course. I'll bring it right up."
The child nodded tiredly and walked back towards the staircase that led to her room. Angelina sighed and looked back to her husband, who continued to speak to his new colleagues outside, unaware.
05:20:32
Seated in front of her desk Jace listened to Director Sheppard as she read over his file.
"Graduated from the University of Binghamton with a bachelors in behavioral science. Five years with the FBI, mostly doing inter office case studies. You have no field experiences?"
"I've worked in the field," Jace replied, "just haven't had many opportunities to do so, which is why I wanted to come here."
Leslie nodded and frowned. "This office usually requires over 2500 hours of documented work hours in the field." Jace swallowed, but kept a stern face. "But, Richard Carey vouches for you, and he's one of my best. I trust him, so in turn I trust you."
Jace nodded.
"However, since you're experience isn't where I would like for it to be, this position will be provided to you on a time trial basis. We'll see what you can do in the time you will be given. If I like your progress you'll be more than welcome to stay with us here at CTU." She extended her hand.
"I won't let you down Ms. Sheppard." He shook her hand.
"It's Leslie, and I don't believe you will, Jace."
Jace and Leslie looked to her office door as Stan walked inside.
"Sorry, Leslie, I just wanted to give you some updates."
"That's fine, Stan, what have you got for me."
Stan stood at the opened door.
"Our Intelligence has been pointing to attacks we believe aren't relevant to the attack on the military transport."
"What do you mean, Stan?"
Stan walked slowly toward her desk.
"Intel logs yesterday mentioned that a possible attack today might result in an extensive amount of civilian casualties."
"Military wouldn't be considered civilian… maybe it was a diversional attack. " Jace spoke.
"Meaning there's still an open window for a second attack?" asked Leslie.
"Possibly."
Leslie sighed.
"Have Samantha check previous logs for possible targets. Tell her to look for anything structural, or civilian gathering. If she needs help she can use Lewis or Leon."
"I already have her on it." Stan said as he made his way toward the glass door.
"Good. Keep me updated."
05:22:48
Emily sat at her desk in the bedroom, wearing her red dress suit top and matching skirt. She pulled up her nylons and grabbed her black heels. After she slipped them on she stood up and straightened her outfit, looking in the mirror. As she went to turn out the desk lamp something caught her attention.
The ring. The engagement band stared back at her from the open box. It seemed to tease her. She sat back down at the desk and picked up the box. Emily couldn't help but smile, even though it was a nervous smile. She quickly wiped at her eyes as she felt tears forming in the corners. After she folded back the top she picked the ring up and stared at it, imagining how it would look on her finger.
The thoughts that raced through her mind caused her to sigh as she placed the ring back inside the box and stood up. On her way out she hesitated and looked back at the ring once more before she left.
05:23:14
…
COMING SOON:
New Setting
New Characters
New Threat
A New Day Begins.
24
Fan Fiction Written By
Joe Falank
FULL LENGTH PREMIERE HOUR
SUMMER 2005