24
SEASON 3.5
The following takes place between 07:00 PM and 08:00 PM.
07:00:00 ... 07:00:01 ... 07:00:02 ...
The sun had finished setting over the Pentagon, the central command center for all United States military forces across the globe. It was from this building that whole wars could be launched and decided with the push of a few buttons. In an empty corridor, a man dressed in a black suit and carrying a simple black briefcase walked towards the exit, his face obscured by shadows.
In the Persian Gulf, onboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, four F/A-18F attack fighters were raised into launch positions on the deck of the massive floating city. Under cover of night, the powerful planes had already been loaded with ordinance that was appropriate for the mission that they would soon undertake. Their pilots were ready and the planes were ready, all they waited on now was the final order to attack.
As he continued down the corridor from his office at the Pentagon, Jack Bauer knew that, even though he was leaving, his day was far from over. He approached the security checkpoint and drew the attention of the military guard, an Army corporal dressed in an appropriate uniform. Having learned this routine over the past three months, Jack handed the man his Department of Defense identification card. Looking him over once, the man slid Bauer's ID through a card reader. When it flashed clear, the guard handed him his ID back. "Have a good evening Mr. Bauer," the guard spoke in a monotone voice.
"Thank you," Jack replied as he replaced his ID in his pocket and walked through the entrance to the parking garage. Walking towards his car, he reached into his pocket and removed his keys. As he clicked the unlock button on the keyless entry remote, he felt the vibration of his cellular phone silently ringing. As he reached for the door handle of his silver Ford Expedition with one hand, he removed the phone from his suit jacket pocket with the other. "This is Bauer," he said into the phone as he flipped it open.
"Jack," said the voice of Secretary of Defense James Heller on the other end of the phone. "This is Secretary Heller," Jack did not need for his boss to identify himself, already recognizing his voice. "Is everything in place?"
"Yes Mr. Secretary," Jack turned the keys on the ignition in his vehicle and began to pull out of the parking garage. The cellular phones they were using were issued by the Department of Defense and secured with the latest and highest levels of encryption protocols which allowed them to speak freely and without concern over possible eavesdropping. "The F-18s are fired up; they're just waiting on the attack order from the president."
In a corridor at the White House, just outside of the Oval Office, Secretary Heller continued his conversation with Jack Bauer, a man who over the past three months had become one of his closest and most trusted advisors and aides. "I'll be briefing the president in just a few minutes as soon as he's finished with a scheduled meeting with the French ambassador," Heller paused for a brief moment as a White House aide walked by, not wanting his conversation overheard by anyone. "You're positive about the intelligence we've received?"
"As positive as we can be Mr. Secretary," Jack replied as he made a turn onto the highway heading for his apartment in downtown Washington D. C. "N. S. A. would have liked more time to be able to verify the intelligence but given the short window that we have to move on this information, time is unfortunately a luxury we don't have at the moment."
The secretary sighed. He knew Bauer was right of course but that wasn't the thing that he wanted to hear at the moment nor was it the thing that President Keeler would want to hear when he briefed him on the developing situation. "Alright then Jack, since you can't tell me that the N. S. A. is certain about the intelligence, then give me your honest opinion about it."
Jack Bauer took a moment. In his short three months working alongside Secretary Heller at the Pentagon, the secretary had asked his opinion on a variety of subjects but it was rare for the secretary to ask his opinion on the validity of intelligence information. "In my honest opinion Mr. Secretary this is a chance we cannot afford to miss. If the intelligence is accurate then we have to move on it."
"And what if it's not accurate Jack?"
Bauer did not considering that as a possibility but the answer to the secretary's question was one they both already knew. "Then we're about to take hostile action against an allied middle eastern country."
Secretary Heller considered the situation. As he momentarily paused in his conversation with Bauer, he saw the French ambassador emerge from the oval office with the president's secretary at his side. "Mr. Secretary," president's secretary, a woman in her late thirties with sandy blonde hair and lightly tanned skin, said as she approached him. "President Keeler can see you now sir."
"Thank you Leslie," Heller replied, pulling the phone slightly away from his mouth for just a brief second. He put the phone back to his mouth, "Jack, I'm going in to brief the president now. What's our time table look like if and when he gives the order?"
Bauer had worked with the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon to plan the attack and he knew the time table as well as anyone else did along with the exact details of the attack plan. "The F-18s will be in the air within five minutes of President Keeler giving the attack order. After they're airborne it will take approximately twenty-five minutes for them to be in strike range of their target. After the strike is complete, N.S.A. satellites should be able to give us almost instant preliminary confirmation of the target's destruction."
"Good enough," Heller answered plainly. "I'll call you back after I brief the president," just as Jack acknowledged, Heller stopped him from hanging up. "Oh and Jack, are you still planning to attend the party fundraiser tonight?" Jack had almost forgotten about the formal event in Washington D. C. in approximately one hour that Secretary Heller had asked him to attend.
"I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate with the military action we're possibly about to undertake," Jack sidestepped the situation. He never considered himself to be very good and politics, handshaking or rubbing elbows with campaign contributors for the president. He certainly didn't want to spend the evening being introduced as the newest rising star at the Department of Defense.
"If I'm going to be there and the president is going to be there, you're going to be there Jack," Heller spoke as though it was an order. Not waiting for any further objections from Bauer, Heller decided it was time to conclude the conversation. "I'll call you after I speak with the president." With no further words, Secretary Heller flipped his cellular phone closed, placed it back into his jacket pocket and proceeded into the oval office.
07:07:54 ... 07:07:55 ... 07:07:56 ...
In a rundown house in a nearby suburb of Washington D. C., Kalik Saed sat in silent meditation. Everything that he had been preparing for during the last three months was now at hand. In less than one hour, his faith would be put to the test and, if called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice, he would gladly do so for paradise would be waiting for him at the end of his long journey. His comrades, his brothers were also preparing themselves, in prayer as he was doing. In his prayers, he asked for strength for himself and for his brothers but more than that, he asked that their great mission would be successful.
"Kalik," the voice of one of his brothers from the door pulled him away from his silent prayers. "It is time to get ready," Kalik, who had been kneeling on the floor, rose to his feet and walked towards the door with a purpose in every one of his steps. After walking down the creaking wood stairs to the basement of the house, the two joined the others. There were no words spoke between them as they proceeded to gather their weapons and other equipment while they covered themselves in black clothing and finally black masks.
The Washington D. C. office of the Counter Terrorist Unit (C. T. U.) was still busy with activity even at this point of the day. Although secret service and metro police handled the majority of the security for the president, cabinet members and members of congress, the Washington office of C. T. U. had no shortage of duties to attend to, including assisting secret service with security for special events.
One such special event was the fundraiser scheduled to take place at the Marriot in Washington D. C. in less than one hour. A fundraise that the president, secretary of defense along with several other cabinet members and members of congress were scheduled to attend. Not to mention various wealthy individuals from across the country that had paid high dollar for their chance to dine with and mingle with high-level elected officials.
Susan Walker was the senior agent on duty this evening and had been tasked by the director of Washington C. T. U. with ensuring that the fundraiser ran smoothly. Although C. T. U. had not received any credible threats against the fundraiser, president or any of the other officials attending, thing were never taken lightly when it came to the security of the president, especially when he would be attending public events. Walking through the main operations center, Susan could not help but feel slightly nervous. She did not doubt the abilities of the secret service or their own agents, it was something else.
Susan walked towards the computer terminal of Jaelyn Vale, a young woman who in a short two years time, had become one of the senior and most highly trusted analysts at C. T. U. As Susan looked at Vale, a young woman in her twenties with a toned body, soft white skin, blonde hair, baby blue eyes and dressed in a power suit and skit, she could tell that she was ambitious. "What's our status?" Susan asked plainly.
"Agent Winters has deployed an undercover team to supplement secret service personnel on site at the fundraiser," Vale began to give her a basic rundown of information Susan was likely to already know most of. "Still nothing to indicate that there will be any terrorist attempts made on the fundraiser or any of the VIPs."
"Is Winters coordinating with secret service?" Susan knew that Christian Winters, one of their top field agents, understood the protocols of these situations but she also knew how apt the man was at breaking protocols.
"Yeah, he's working with the lead agent on site."
"Okay," Susan still did not like something about this situation and she was still unsure what that something was. "Tell Winters I want him and the other agents to keep a constant communications channel open with the secret service and get us patched into the channel. If you need me I'll be at station three." With that Susan walked off for a computer terminal across the room from where Jaelyn was working.
Once Jaelyn was sure that Susan or anyone else wasn't looking over her back anymore, she returned to her computer screen, minimizing a window that was open that contained the current deployments of secret service and C. T. U. agents at the site of the fundraiser. Clicking on another window which she had minimized and that had no title, she resumed inputting a complex string of computer code.
07:11:22 ... 07:11:23 ... 07:11:24 ...
07:15:17 ... 07:15:18 ... 07:15:19 ...
In the basement of a rundown house, eight men dressed from head to two in black robes continues loading weapons ranging from rocket propelled grenades to assault rifles to pistols. Their time was drawing closer.
At the Washington office of C. T. U. various agents and analysts continued working on security measures for the fundraiser as well as addressing and reviewing other issues.
In the oval office, the secretary of defense waited for a reaction from the president on the news he had just been given.
"Let me get this straight James," President Keeler nervously paced around the oval office. With everything else that he had on his plate today, the news his secretary of defense had just given him was not something that he had exactly wanted to hear. "You want me to authorize an attack against a Middle Eastern country that has always proven to be an ally of ours against terrorism, based on intelligence that was received less than an hour ago and that cannot be reliably verified in the amount of time we have to act on it?" Both the volume and pace of the president's speech increased as he spoke.
Seated on a couch in the oval office across from the president's desk, Secretary Heller could not deny that the scenario did not sound good. Still, he trusted that launching the attack was the right call and it was his job to convince the president of that. "What I am asking you to do Mr. President is authorize a precision strike against a building containing the leaders of no less than six terrorist organizations from around the globe. Yes, this building is in a friendly country but quite frankly Mr. President, if we wait for authorities there to act, it may be too late."
President Keeler sat back down at his desk and rested an elbow on it. What Secretary Heller was asking him to do essentially amounted to declaring war on a foreign country, even if they could be convinced that it was a strike against terrorist leaders, there would be untold diplomatic fallout from such an event. "Explain to me why we can't at least consult with the leaders of the country first."
"Mr. President, the intelligence that the N. S. A. intercepted suggested a meeting between the leaders of these terrorist organizations to take place during this hour. That same intelligence also suggested that the meeting would last no longer than an hour," Heller did not like having to make such a big argument for something that time was working against them on. "By the time we are able to communicate with and debate this with their leaders, it'll be too late; our window of opportunity will have passed."
President Keeler did not like anything about this situation. Still, he was beginning to see the point his secretary of defense was making, as much as he didn't like it. Cutting the head off of six terrorist organizations would be a dramatic blow and something that at least the citizens of the United States would support. "Tell me the attack plan."
Jack Bauer had just arrived at his apartment and was in the process of hurriedly changing from the suit he wore to work into a formal tuxedo to wear to the party fundraiser that the secretary expected to attend. Even though he did not care much for those political events, something about the way his life was unfolding made him smile. For the first time in a long time, he was beginning to feel as though not going to another agency for field work was the right decision.
As Jack was putting the cufflinks on his white collared shirt, the phone on his bed rang, not his Department of Defense cellular phone but his personal one. Before flipping it open, he glanced at the call ID displayed on the screen and saw 'Kim' flashing across it. "Hello," he flipped the phone open, placed it to his ear and answered.
"Hey dad," he smiled in recognition of his daughter's voice.
"Hey sweetie," Jack held the phone against his ear with his shoulder while he resumed snapping cufflinks on. "What's up?" He was grateful to get a phone call where he did not have to hear about defense budgets, troop deployments or hypothetical war scenarios.
"I didn't really want anything, just calling to see how you've been. It's been a while since I've heard from you," Jack could not deny that it had been some time since he had called his daughter, wanting to give her and Chase some time alone and staying busy with his own duties at the Department of Defense.
"I'm fine Kim, just been a little bit busy lately," as much as he wanted to spend the next hours catching up with her over the phone, he knew that he did not have the time for that either. "Listen Kim, I've got to be somewhere here in just a few minutes but I've got some free time tomorrow afternoon. We can catch up then."
"Okay," after everything her father had been through, Kim could not help but hide the concern in her voice. "Dad," she paused for a second. "I love you and I miss you."
For the first time in a long while, Jack Bauer could believe those words coming from his daughter. Their relationship had been rocky over the years but now, like many things in his life, finally seemed to be on the mend. "I miss you too," he suddenly wished that he could blow off going to the fundraiser for entirely different reasons than he originally had. "I'll talk to you tomorrow sweetie." Kim said her goodbye and Jack flipped the phone closed.
As Jack collected his black tuxedo jacket from the closet and was walking for the door, another phone rang, this one his Department of Defense cellular phone in the pocket of his trousers. Not looking at the caller ID display, he flipped it open. "This is Bauer."
Secretary Heller had just stepped into his limousine headed for a brief stop at his residence to change clothes before proceeding to the party fundraiser. "Jack, the president has authorized the air strike," the secretary did not waste anytime in getting to the point of his phone call. "I've already notified Admiral MacDonald and the F-18s should be in the air any minute now."
"Is the president making any changes to his itinerary?" Jack did not discount the possibility that the president would postpone the party fundraiser as a result of the impending military aciton.
"No, he thinks it's important that we proceed normally. The president will be placing a call to the prime minister of the country where the strike is to take place just after the F-18s drop their payload, he's hoping to avoid a diplomatic incident by explaining that it was a strike against a terrorist target," the secretary had those hopes as well. "He also has his speech writers re-writing his speech to discuss terrorism and to include a mention of the strike in it." The secretary could tell that Jack was as concerned as everyone else about the possible diplomatic fallout from the attack and shifted gears to more urgent business. "I've told Admiral MacDonald that you're the DoD point man on this one Jack, he'll be contacting you with verification of a successful strike."
"Understood Mr. Secretary," Jack locked the door to his apartment and proceeded down the hallway to the elevator. "I'll see you at the fundraiser in a few minutes."
07:21:03 ... 07:21:04 ... 07:21:05 ...
In his private bedroom of the White House, President John Keeler was finishing changing into his tuxedo and catching a few minutes of CNN on the television. His mind still raced with the potential consequences of what he had just given the authorization to do. The commentator on CNN was reporting that public opinion polls showed his job approval rating at 74, up six points from a previous poll, largely as a result of an aggressive domestic agenda that had created 30,000 new jobs during his first months in the presidency. He wondered what his approval rating would be in the morning after launching military action against a foreign country based on unreliable intelligence.
A knock on the door drew him away from his thoughts. "Come in," he answered without getting up from the bed. His son stepping through the door when it opened brought a welcome smile to his face. "Kevin, I figured you'd be on your way by now," for two days his son, a senior in college at Georgetown had been telling him for two days about the date he had with a young woman named Candace whom Kevin recounted as the prettiest girl at the school.
"About to go pick her up, just wanted to drop in and say hi, hadn't see you today," Kevin had a habit of being able to tell when something was bothering his father after barely talking to him at all. "Is everything alright?" Kevin jumped immediately to the point.
Knowing that it was hard to hide anything from his son, President Keeler remained silent, stood and looked his son in the eye. "I had to do something a little while ago that I didn't like doing. I just hope it's the right decision." Before his son could reply, Keeler collected his tuxedo jacket and started towards the door. "You'd better get going, don't want to be late, this girl sounds like she's quite the catch."
"I'll see you when I get back," Kevin said as he followed his dad out the door and started down the hallway towards the exit where his car was parked.
"I have a feeling I'll be awake," they parted ways as the president went down a different corridor towards where the motorcade was waiting to take him to the fundraiser. He knew that after the fundraiser, a significant portion of the rest of his night was likely to be spent communicating with foreign leaders whose respective intelligence services would report the military strike by the United States.
As he approached the waiting presidential limousine and was greeted by the slew of flashing red and blue lights from police and secret service vehicles around him, secret service Agent Aaron Pierce opened the limousine door as he approached. The two exchanged a brief greeting as the president sat in limousine, followed by his national security advisor Elizabeth Griffon, his press secretary Stephen Blakeney and his chief of staff Robert Franklin. As Agent Pierce closed the door to the limousine, he raised his wrist to his mouth and spoke into the microphone concealed beneath the sleeve of his jacket. "Gambit is moving." Pierce took his seat in the front of the limo next to the driver as the motorcade began to pull away.
07:28:11 ... 07:28:12 ... 07:28:13 ...
07:32:38 ... 07:32:39 ... 07:32:40 ...
Escorted by a line of police and secret service vehicles with flashing red and blue lights on both ends, the presidential motorcade moved slowly along a predetermined route through the streets of Washington D. C.
Driving in his silver Ford Expedition, Jack Bauer neared the Marriot in downtown Washington D. C. and readied his Department of Defense identification as well as his invitation to the fundraiser which would allow him through security.
Inside the banquet room of the Washington D. C. Marriot, special agent Christian Winters with the Washington office of C. T. U. stood by a buffet line of hors d'oeuvres as he watched the entrance to the room several feet away. C. T. U. and plainclothes secret service agents were scattered throughout the room as the guests and VIPs slowly began to arrive. They appeared to be nothing more than guests themselves, their firearms concealed by their tuxedo jackets on in their purses in the case of female agents. They communicated via highly sophisticated communications devices concealed in their ears.
From across the room, he made eye contact with his partner Alexis Molina, an agent who had just been assigned after completing a prolonged undercover operation for the C. I. A. She was on temporary assignment to Washington D. C. C. T. U. pending her permanent transfer from C. I. A. to another domestic office of C. T. U. Winters stared at her for a brief second before returning his gaze to the door.
She was chatting casually with a young man Winters did not recognize, likely the son of one of the various political donors who had already arrived. No doubt he noticed the same things about Alexis, or Lexie as she like to be called, that Christian noticed, how the beautiful spaghetti strap green sequin dress she wore accented her tan skin and showed off her fit body. Winters put those thoughts out of his mind, they had their duties to attend to and he knew nothing could get in the way of those. With many of the members of congress and other high-level contributors now beginning to arrive, he knew that the president and secretary of defense would not be far behind.
Jaelyn Vale continued working on the lines of code that she was inputting into her computer. Having graduated at the top of her class from M. I. T. her computer programming skills had her in demand from companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Dell and a dozen others just in the United States, not to mention companies and overseas government agencies. C. T. U. however presented her with the opportunities other agencies and private companies did not.
Susan Walker could not help but notice Vale typing busily at her keyboard. It was nothing that wasn't expected except for the fact that they were currently running very few active protocols and Vale was currently tasked with coordinating communications between C. T. U. and secret service. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Susan walked towards Vale's station and stood behind her back, able to see that she was in the process of writing some complex computer code. "Aren't you supposed to be working on those communications protocols?" Susan asked as she tried to make some sense of the code with her limited computer knowledge.
Vale was taken by surprise by Susan who had walked up from behind her without her knowing. She was sure that Susan wouldn't understand the code she was writing but minimized the window before allowing Susan to see too much of her work. She then brought the window containing the deployments of the agents at the fundraiser and communications protocols back up on her screen. "It's right here, everything is running smoothly right now."
Susan was becoming suspicious and Vale could tell. While Susan doubted that Vale was any kind of traitor or terrorist, she did not doubt the young woman's ambition or willingness to go over people's heads to get what she wanted. "So what is that computer program you're working on then?" Susan gave up that she did not understand the code that she saw on Vale's screen.
"Just something Sutton asked me to work on in my spare time," considering her options, mentioning the name of the director of the D. C. office of C. T. U. would either get Susan off of her back or get her more on it.
Susan considered what Vale had told her for a brief second. "And what exactly is it?" As the agent in charge of C. T. U., at least for this evening, she felt as though she did have a right to know what her subordinates were working on.
Knowing that she wasn't going to cease the interrogation by Susan until she told her what was going on, Vale conceded. "It's a new firewall and anti-virus protection system, once I'm finished it'll make our servers more secure against possible intrusion or attack."
Susan did not like that answer and was becoming more and more suspicious as it seemed like Vale was just trying to give her what she wanted to get her off of her back. "DoD has dedicated software engineers that handle things like that, not to mention that the majority of our software is purchased from the private sector."
Becoming frustrated, Vale turned away from her computer to face Susan. "And I can guarantee you that none of those software engineers from either DoD or the private sector are near as good as I am. Now if you don't trust me, fine. Call Sutton and he'll be happy to confirm what I said," Vale played her last card and left it up to Susan.
"Just make sure you're monitoring those comm. Protocols," Susan said as she walked away, returning to the computer station where she was working monitoring the deployments of the undercover and uniforms agents at the fundraiser. She wasn't going to disturb the director at home for something as minor as that, not yet at least.
After scanning the room to make sure no one else was watching her, Vale brought the window containing her code back up on her screen and continued working.
"We estimate that the F-18s will be within range of their target within the next ten minutes," speaking to Jack Bauer on his cellular phone, Admiral Edward MacDonald in the combat operations center of the U. S. S. Abraham Lincoln delivered an update on the status of the strike mission. "Each plane has been armed with two five hundred pound JDAM equipped bombs and the targeting coordinates have been locked into the planes computers."
Standing across the room from the entrance, Bauer watched as Secretary Heller entered the banquet room and proceeded into a crowd of people wanting to greet him. As he watched Heller and listened to the admiral's report, he noted the secretary giving a hug to an attractive woman in a red dress. Knowing the secretary would have questions for him, Jack pulled himself back to the matter at hand. "How long will it take us to get confirmation of the target's destruction?"
"N. S. A. has moved a significant portion of its satellite surveillance to cover the target," Admiral MacDonald explained. "We will have almost immediately satellite confirmation that the target has been destroyed however it may take a few hours to get a complete battle damage assessment from our people on the ground."
As he listened, Jack noticed that Secretary Heller was making his way towards him with the woman in the red dress by his side. "Thank you Admiral MacDonald, please get back to me the second you have confirmation of a successful strike." Leaving his final instructions, Jack flipped his phone shut as the secretary approached.
"Jack," Secretary Heller said as he approached him. "I haven't had a chance to introduce my daughter to you. Jack Bauer, Audrey Raines," he said gesturing to the younger woman in the red dress by his side.
Jack took her hand politely. "It's nice to finally meet you, you're father's told me a great deal about you," Jack recalled various light night meeting where the secretary would mention some random fact about his daughter.
"Probably not as much as he's told me about you," Audrey replied with a smile and slight laugh. Every time she had talked to her father over the last few months he had something to say about his bright and sharp new advisor.
"I'm glad you two finally have a chance to meet," the secretary continued. "Audrey had been conducting a tour of military bases across the country and overseas on my behalf, now that she's back, you two will be working closely together at DoD."
"I look forward to it," Jack said politely.
Secretary Heller briefly turned his attention towards his daughter. "Audrey, I almost forgot to ask, where's Paul?" At the mention of his name, Jack recalled the secretary having previously mentioned Audrey's husband on a few occassions.
"Some business trip," Audrey replied half-heartedly. "You know Paul, always travelling." Heller, knowing his daughter, felt there was something more to the story but decided to let it go for now as there were other matters at hand.
"Jack, have you heard anything from Admiral MacDonald?" Like Bauer, Heller was nervous about the action they were undertaking and wanted to be kept constantly updated on any new information, no matter how insignificant.
After nodding to indicate yes and surveying the room for a moment to ensure that no one was listening in on their conversation, Jack explained further. "The F-18s are in the air, they should be within launch range in the next," he quickly checked his watch. "About eight minutes. We should have satellite confirmation of the target's destruction within a matter of minutes after the air strike is complete."
"Alright," Heller replied, also taking care to make sure that no one in the room was eavesdropping on their conversation. He did not like discussing such business in areas like this but there were times when they had no other option. "Then let's have a drink and hope that everything goes smoothly." Together, Secretary Heller, Audrey and Jack strolled towards the bar.
More had joined Kalik Saed and the others in the basement of the house. There were now fourteen in all and they had finished gathering their weapons and equipment. One of their phones rang and they were given their final instructions. Once the phone call had ended, they moved to the garage where they split up into two, older model vans. Pulling away from the residence and driving down seperate streets, their paths were now set.
07:41:19 ... 07:41:20 ... 07:41:21 ...
07:45:42 ... 07:45:43 ... -7:45:43 ...
Above the clouds in the dark, early morning sky, four F/A-18F attack fighters maneuvered towards their target, now only minutes away from unleashing an incomparable amount of destructive power against a meeting of terrorist leaders.
On the streets of Washington D. C. two black vans moved purposefully towards their target, their occupants prepared for the battle that was about to come in mere minutes.
In another part of Washington D. C. the presidential limousine escorted by a vast motorcade moved slowly along its predetermined route.
"I wish we had more time for both of our intelligence agencies to verify the accuracy of this intelligence data Mr. President," speaking on the other end of a highly secured phone line, the prime minister of the middle east country that President Keeler had authorized the strike against did not like what he was hearing.
President Keeler, seated in the presidential limousine with his chief of staff and national security advisor had just called the prime minister to inform him about the military strike against a target in his country due to take place any minute. He considered it a gamble to give the prime minister advanced warning but it was one he felt was necessary if they wished to retain the country as an ally. "As do I Mr. Prime Minister unfortunately circumstances aren't going to allow us that time. Our intelligence was clear on the fact that this meeting was going to take no more than an hour. If we try to spend more time verifying the intelligence, we're going to lose our window of opportunity to deal a crippling blow to terrorist organizations world wide."
The prime minister conceded. He could not argue with the logic the president was using but that did not mean he had to like it. "Next time Mr. President, please show me enough respect to make this telephone call before my radar stations are tracking your warplanes in our airspace." He had been alerted by his military commanders that the American planes were in their territory approximately five minutes before receiving the call from President Keeler. The official line from the American military commanders at the Pentagon was that it was just a routine patrol, something American planes had done hundreds of times in the past.
"Mr. Prime Minister, it is not our intent to antagonize or anger your country," President Keeler played the diplomatic role well, knowing this was a tense and difficult situation. He tried to imagine what his response would be if the leader of a foreign country had just told him that they had ordered a military strike on American soil. "But we made a commitment to destroy global terrorism and that is a commitment we will honor. We cannot let this target pass us by."
Sitting in his stately office, surrounded by his top aides, the prime minister could not disagree. While many of his aides supported the actions the United States was undertaking, if their intelligence was genuine, others called it an act of aggression, calling for him to immediately shoot down the American warplanes. "Mr. President," the prime minister spoke after a few seconds of silent deliberation. "If there are terrorist leaders in the building you have targeted, then your action will receive the complete support of my government."
It was not hard for President Keeler to recognize what the prime minister had done; leaving himself an out in the event that it was later learned their intelligence was incorrect. Still, Keeler could at least count it as a small victory that the prime minister was willing to give some measure of support to their plan. "Thank you Mr. Prime Minister, I hope that our people are able to work together in the next few hours to verify the accuracy of our intelligence."
"You will have our cooperation," the prime minister concluded and hung-up the phone.
Sipping a glass of champagne and casually chatting with James Heller and his daughter Audrey Raines, Jack Bauer could not help but have his mind focused on other matters. He could not help but feel that he should be somewhere else, waiting for the results of the attack, not standing at a party waiting on a phone call. That was another indication of how his life had changed. Taking a second to glance at his watch, he knew that by now the bombs would be falling.
"So Jack," he was pulled away from his thoughts by Audrey speaking to him. "Dad told me that you used to work for C. T. U. in field operations?" That made him think about a whole different time in his life, filled with memories that he mostly wanted to forget.
Before he could reply, the vibrating of his DoD cellular phone in his jacket pocket demanded his attention. "Excuse me," he said as he retrieved the phone, flipped it open and put it to his ear. "This is Bauer."
From the dimly lit combat information center onboard the U. S. S. Abraham Lincoln, Admiral MacDonald watched as real time satellite information was fed to a monitor from an N. S. A. satellite stationed in space above the area where his F-18s had just struck. "Mr. Bauer this is Admiral MacDonald, we have satellite confirmation of a successful strike," he paused for a moment as the images on the screen refreshed. "The target appears to have been completely destroyed but it's going to take at least a couple of hours to get a more firm assessment from our assets on the ground."
Jack felt a sudden sense of relief. The success of the attack they had planned was almost entirely guaranteed but there were always things that could go wrong no matter how well the action was planned. "Thank you Admiral, please keep me updated on any new information," Jack then flipped his phone closed and placed it back in his jacket pocket.
"Was that MacDonald?" Secretary Heller asked almost as soon as Jack flipped the phone closed, almost certain that it was the admiral who Jack had just finished talking to.
Bauer nodded. "The strike appears to have been successful."
"The president will be pleased to hear that," Heller checked his own watch. "He should be arriving in the next couple of minutes; we'll pass the news on to him then. How long until we can expect a confirmation on the targets we were after?"
"At least a couple of hours, it's going to require some investigation before we can be sure that the targets were in that building," now, Jack could only hope that the intelligence they had based the attack on was accurate and that they had not just declared war on a friendly country for no reason.
Judging by the sudden movement of people towards the entrance to the banquet room, Jack could only assume that the president was now arriving.
As Kevin Keeler drove through the streets of Washington D. C. in his Ford Mustang convertible, with Candace, a gorgeous blonde coed at his side, he considered that the only thing that could make this evening any better was if he did not have the two Suburbans filled with secret service personnel following behind him. While the security concerns that came with his father's office did not bother him, it did make it difficult to get any time alone with his date.
Glancing at Candace's smiling face, he decided to focus on her rather than their heavily armed escort. "I think you're going to like this restaurant, it's not the fanciest but it's got some of the best Thai food in this whole town."
"Wow, you mean the son of the President of the Untied States knows about a place that isn't fancy?" Candace asked, her tone flirtatious and joking.
Kevin smiled. "Yeah, just a couple." He brought his car to a stop at a red light and patiently waited, taking a couple seconds to glance over at Candace. A million thoughts raced through his head as he stared into her blue eyes and she stared back at him.
In a split second, all of those thoughts disappeared. A deafening explosion came from behind them and a fireball lit up the night sky. Jerking around to see what had happened, he saw the Suburban that was farthest behind them enveloped in flames. As he watched the chaos behind them, he heard the sound of tires squealing in front of him.
A black van came to a sudden stop immediately in front of Kevin's car, blocking him from making any quick escape. The side doors of the van flung open and men dressed in black robes, their faces covered in black masks and carrying assault rifles emerged. "Get down!" Kevin screamed and through his arm around Candace, pulling her to the floor of the car as automatic weapon fire erupted around them.
Secret service personnel piled out of the remaining Suburban, returning fire at the black clad attackers who were shooting at them. A second black van came from behind the flaming wreckage of the other Suburban. The secret service agents concentrated on engaging the attackers near Kevin's car and were almost oblivious to the van next to them. The windows on the van opened and the occupants inside opened fire with high powered assault rifles. In a matter of seconds, the secret service agents were gunned down.
Kevin Keeler had not had time to look up when he felt hands grabbing him out of his car. "Get down on the ground," several voices told him as they through him to the ground and began binding his arms behind him. He could Candace screaming on the other side of the car as they put a mask over his head that blocked his sight. Unable to see, he felt himself being lifted to his feet and being carried away.
The attackers fired several rounds into passing by cars and pedestrians to prevent any interference as they loaded the president's son and his companion into one of the vans and sped away.
07:55:09 ... 07:55:10 ... 07:55:11 ...
Secretary Heller, Jack Bauer and Audrey Raines were making their way through the crowd of people who were greeting and speaking with the president. Heller wanted to try and get the president away from them as soon as possible to give him the news about their apparently successful strike against the terrorist leaders.
It was an opportunity that Secretary Heller was not going to get. As he approached the president, he saw a sudden change in the demeanor of the secret service personnel, most notably the lead agent Aaron Pierce. He pressed his finger to his ear, listening intently to whatever was being said through his earpiece. "Copy that," Pierce acknowledged what had been said to him and then immediately began issuing commands. "Code 9, code 9, Quarterback has been hit!"
In an instant, the secret service agents surrounding the president sprang into action. Shielding him with their bodies, they immediately made for the doorway, pushing the crowd aside. Secretary Heller was also grabbed by his own secret service detail as was his daughter and they were also moved to the exit.
Jack Bauer had barely been able to hear Agent Pierce issuing a code 9 signal, an indication that there was an imminent threat to the president or first family. He hadn't even had time to consider what was happening when a secret service agent made his way through the chaotic crowd and approached him. "Mr. Bauer," the agent spoke loud enough to be heard over the panicked crowd. "Secretary Heller is requesting you sir, we have to move," with that, the agent grabbed Jack by the arm and the two ran for the exit.
Stepping outside, Jack watched as the presidential limousine and its escort vehicles were already pulling away from the building. He was immediately moved to the waiting limousine where another agent flung the door open and Jack quickly stepped inside. As soon as the door to the limousine was closed, the vehicle sped away. Jack hadn't even had time to be seated yet when the sudden acceleration of the car threw him into a seat next to Audrey who, along with Jack and Secretary Heller were the only occupants of the back of the vehicle.
Secretary Heller was already on his cellular phone, learning information about what was going on. Jack and Audrey both looked to him as he flipped the phone shut. He struggled for the words as he came to grip with the reality of the situation. "Kevin Keeler has been kidnapped. He was on a date when the secret service escort was ambushed. They're moving the president, vice president and key members of the cabinet to secure locations. There hasn't been any communication from the kidnappers."
Before either Jack or Audrey could speak, Secretary Heller was back on the phone. "This is Secretary Heller, put me through to the president."
To Jack Bauer, the timing of the terrorist attack against the president's son and the military action against the leaders of terrorist organizations was no coincidence. There was more going on than any of them realized. Reaching into his jacket pocket, he removed his cellular phone and flipped it open. Dialing the number for the Washington D. C. office of C. T. U. he was intent on getting the secretary information he would want before he asked for it. "This is Jack Bauer, special advisor to Secretary of Defense Heller, I need to speak with the ranking agent immediately."
07:58:56 ... 07:58:57 ... 07:58:58 ...
In the backseat of a limousine, Jack Bauer and Secretary Heller both waited patiently for their calls to be put through to their respective destinations.
Through the streets of Washington D. C., the presidential motorcade, followed shortly by a smaller motorcade belonging to the secretary of defense raced towards their destinations.
At the Washington D. C. office of C. T. U., phones were ringing and personnel scrambling to activate all necessary protocols to assist in locating the president's son and the terrorists responsible for his kidnapping. Susan Walker was flooded by phone calls and personnel asking questions of her while Jaelyn Vale busily worked on her computer.
In the backseat of a black van that was also racing through the streets of Washington D. C., Kevin and Candace were on their knees with their arms bound behind their back and masks over their faces, surrounded by terrorists brandishing assault rifles.
In the early morning dark skies above a country in the Middle East, four attack fighters maneuvered back to their aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, having just completed a successful air strike. In the cockpit of the lead fighter, Navy lieutenant commander Gus Johnson watched his instrument displays carefully. Suddenly, a red warning indicator in his cockpit lit up and an alarm sounded. He knew this indicator had only one meaning, that radar had locked onto their plane. "Radar lock! Radar lock!" He announced into the communications system that linked him with the other three planes and the carrier.
In seconds, the three other pilots also reported that radar had locked onto them as well. Before Johnson could issue any orders, his radar screen began showing numerous new signatures which he knew could only be one thing. "Incoming surface to air missiles!" The squadron commander shouted as he looked at his radar. "Repeat incoming surface to air missiles. Evasive maneuvers! All pilots break left! Break left!"
07:59:58 ... 07:59:59 ... 08:00:00
SCENES FROM THE NEXT EPISODE OF 24 ...
Heller: Jack, I want you to go to C. T. U. and keep an eye on things.
Keeler: I need you to get me the Vice President.
Jack: You do whatever you have to do.
Winters: Who is your contact?!?
Molina: We're moving on the target now.
Franklin: Someone is going to pay the price for this.