24: End of an Era?
Episode 1.10: "Day 1: 3:00pm – 4:00pm"
By
Chris Wright
Based on the television series 24
24: End of an Era – Day 1: 3:00pm - 4:00pmJACK (V/O)
"Right now, terrorists are in possession of an experimental virus, intending to use it in Los Angeles. My daughter is missing and may still be in danger. President Palmer's cabinet has been targeted. And higher powers may be involved in all three. I am Federal Agent Jack Bauer, and this is the darkest day of my life."
"Previously on 24…"
Go further up the board! It's all there!
FADE OUT.
Day 1: 3:00pm – 4:00pm
JACK BAUER (V/O)
"The following takes place between 3:00pm and 4:00pm…"
FADE TO.
INT. DOWNTOWN OFFICE – 3:00pm
Two Securicor men walk into the lobby of the office block containing Mikhail and Cassel. They stroll up to the front desk, laughing and joking with each other. The receptionist looks up and acknowledges their presence.
RECEPTIONIST
"The machine you're collecting from is on the eighth floor guys. Someone's just coming down to accompany you."
The men nod and wait for their escort.
Meanwhile, up on the eighth floor, Cassel and Mikhail are packing up their things, ready to leave.
CASSEL
"I still don't see how we're going to get into the station without raising suspicion."
MIKHAIL
"Relax Kevin. Everything is under control."
Mikhail looks up from the office and smiles as he sees the two Securicor men enter. He motions to Cassel and they exit the room. The Securicor men peel off and go down a narrow corridor to the left of the room, while the man following watches for the signal from Mikhail. He sees it and turns around, moving back towards the lift. Mikhail and Cassel walk quicker to catch up with them. They turn around and notice that their escort has disappeared and also that two men are now following.
MIKHAIL
"Hello Gentleman. Going somewhere?"
Mikhail reaches them and buries a tazer into the lead man's chest. The other man goes to intercept but Cassel grabs his arm, breaking it before Mikhail can tazer him as well. Both burly men fall to the floor, unconscious.
CASSEL
"I knew you were a bit mad…but Securicor men?"
Mikhail smiles and picks up one of the bodies, dragging it towards an adjacent room.
MIKHAIL
"Well it's a guarantee of getting into the station unnoticed. Considering the American people's love for snacks, vending machines everywhere, we should be able to get deep into the station to collect their money. Help me get the other guy."
Cassel drags the other man into the room and shuts the door. Mikhail smiles.
MIKHAIL
"Let's go."
The two men walk back out to the main floor towards the express elevator.
CASSEL
"What about the third man? The one that's in the back?"
MIKHAIL
"All taken care of my friend."
CASSEL (smiling)
"You really have thought of everything, haven't you?"
The lift door opens and they stride out towards the front door, seeing the van come into view as they go. They exit and walk calmly up to the van, opening the doors and entering. Mikhail turns around and nods at the man in the back who says nothing. Cassel starts the van, still smiling at Mikhail's ingenuity. They pull out.
CASSEL
"So where to Mikhail?"
MIKHAIL
"Union Station, Los Angeles."
Cassel guns the engine and they move away, all set for their next attack.
INT. CTU LOS ANGELES – 3:10 pm
Jack, George, Tony and Chloe have moved to the situation room after Chloe found the information on Bob Warner. She is still tapping away, trying to decode some of the information around Bob's name while Tony, Jack and George discuss him.
JACK
"Why would Bob Warner be involved? We've been here before when he was framed, we should treat this with caution."
TONY
"I agree Jack, but we need to follow up on this. Chloe has confirmed that this encryption was very serious stuff. We don't need to arrest him, just some questions."
GEORGE
"The good cop bad cop routine again. God I love this place. Jack, do you want to follow up on it?"
Jack goes to reply but Tony butts in.
TONY
"Are you sure that's a good idea George?"
GEORGE
"Why wouldn't it be?"
TONY (turns to Jack)
"When was the last time you saw Kate Warner, Jack?"
Jack looks down, avoiding Tony's stare.
JACK
"I can do my job Tony. Kate has nothing to do with this."
TONY
"When was the last time Jack?"
JACK (reluctantly)
"…when we broke up."
George gets the regretful look on his face, the one he seems to always get when Jack's involved. Jack sees it and pleads to George.
JACK (CONT.)
"George, I can do my job."
GEORGE
"Well in your case, that's what I'm afraid of."
Chloe looks up, her trademark pout on her face.
CHLOE
"Maybe you should have done your job and checked out that warehouse during the Nuclear threat."
George turns slowly to look at Chloe, not believing what she has just said.
GEORGE
"Excuse me?"
CHLOE
"You tried to run from the fallout and then sent another agent to check out a lead, didn't you?"
GEORGE
"That's not the point here."
CHLOE
"He died from radiation poisoning after your cowardice, didn't he?"
JACK
"Stop it Chloe."
Chloe turns to Jack and stays silent on his request. Jack turns back to George.
JACK
"I won't let personal issues get in the way of this George. Let me do this."
GEORGE
"Whatever Jack, do what you have to."
George gets up and leaves the situation room. The door swings shut and Chloe breathes again.
CHLOE
"Asshole."
TONY
"Chloe…"
Chloe turns to Tony.
TONY
"Do you ever think before you speak?"
Chloe pouts in anger and hurt as Tony also leaves. She turns and looks at Jack.
JACK
"Try and find more on Bob Warner from those files."
Jack begins to leave but turns as he reaches the door.
JACK
"And Chloe..."
CHLOE
"Yeh Jack?"
JACK
"Don't worry about them."
CHLOE
"Why would I?"
Jack leaves, rolling his eyes at the continuing arrogance of Chloe.
EXT. DOWNTOWN STREET - 3:20 pm
Chase wanders down the street, scanning it for any sign of Kim. He knows this sort of search would be stupid so he ducks into an alley adjacent to the street, taking out his cellphone. He pauses for a second, wondering why Kim hadn't contacted CTU if she did have her cellphone with her. Maybe she lost it, maybe she left it at the house. He starts to slip the phone back into his pocket when it bursts into life. He takes it out and looks at the caller ID, but it is an unknown number. He answers it and holds it to his ear, quickly pulling it away as an intense crackle eminates from the earpiece.
CHASE (shouting to be heard)
"Hello? Who is this?"
KIM
"Chase? Chase, is that you?"
CHASE
"Kim, thank god."
KIM
"Chase, I'm scared, if that's you, please say something."
Chase realizes that the line must be bad on her end. He shouts again to be heard.
KIM
"If you are there, I'm at the intersection of Vermont Avenue and 3rd Street. Please hurry."
Kim hangs up before Chase can attempt to respond. He knows the streets of Los Angeles well, even though he hasn't lived there long. He sets off at a jog towards Kim's location, worried that someone will get there before him.
INT. CTU LOS ANGELES - 3:23 am
Melanie is returning from the toilet to her station when she runs into Mark. The two smile, having history of training together.
MARK
"Settling in OK?"
MELANIE
"Yes, I think so. That Chloe's a bitch though."
MARK
"Give her a chance Melanie. We've been waiting to be assigned here for years."
Melanie ignores Mark.
MELANIE
"How you doing?"
MARK
"Great, me and Edgar and really getting on well."
MELANIE
"What – that whale? There's a lot of him to get on with!"
Mark's expression turns suddenly sour, and his eyes seem to flare up at Melanie's remark. Melanie sees this and looks confused.
MELANIE
"What's that look for?"
MARK
"Does it come naturally to you being a complete bitch?"
MELANIE (shocked)
"Excuse me? Marky, remember our little agreement, I cover you and you're personality problems. Any more remarks like that and I'll bring you down."
Mark seems to shrink back into himself a little.
MARK
"I just don't like you being so dismissive of my friends."
MELANIE
"Oh don't be such a baby Mark. If you're going to cry every single time I say something bad then maybe you shouldn't be here."
Mark pushes past Melanie, knowing he's beaten in this round. Melanie turns and shouts after him.
MELANIE
"See you soon Marky."
Melanie walks off towards her station, smiling happily. She doesn't notice the person watching her from the shadows. He steps out, and we see it's Edgar, and he seems to have heard the whole conversation. He watches Melanie stride off and turns to see Mark round the corner, clearly shaken and upset. He shakes his head and goes back to his own station, flashing a growl at Melanie as he walks past her.
EXT. INTERSECTION OF VERMONT AND 3RD – 3:27 am
Kim waits anxiously just off the corner of the streets, not wanting to attract any attention to herself. She is suddenly aware of the street being somewhat quieter than it was. She had only chosen here because it seemed busy but she was suddenly fearful for her safety. She jumped a mile in the air as a strong arm grabbed her. She wheels round and faces a young looking man in a suit.
KIM
"Let go of me!"
SUIT
"Easy, easy Kim. Calm down."
KIM (terrified)
"How do you know my name?"
SUIT
"I work for CTU. Chase Edmunds sent me to pick you up. I was the one on his phone earlier, must've been a bad line!"
KIM
"Where's your identification?"
SUIT
"It's back at the car. Come on, we need to go. There's people out there looking for you."
Kim starts to slowly walk with the man, who leads her down an alleyway. She knows this is the way to a small car park but in the pit of her stomach, she still has a bad feeling about this.
KIM
"What's your name anyway? And who sent you?"
The man stops in his tracks. He turns round and smiles.
SUIT
"I'm Agent Craig. Come on, we need to go."
Kim's heart goes like a drum in her chest.
KIM
"Was it Agent Phillips that sent you?"
SUIT (hesitating for a second)
"Yeah, that's the one."
Kim stops dead in her tracks, knowing there's no such person as Agent Phillips at CTU. The man sees she has stopped and slowly draws his weapon, pointing it at Kim. She doesn't move, frozen to the spot, half from anger at her own stupidity for following this man somewhere so private and the other half from sheer fear. He moves forward and grabs her, pushing her forward with the barrel of his gun.
ASSASSIN
"Move. I said move!"
He moves around the corner, eyes focused on Kim so much that he doesn't see the man flying towards him. Chase makes a desperate grab for the assassin's weapon, grabbing it and pointing it away from Kim.
CHASE
"KIM! RUN!"
Kim takes cover around the corner while Chase struggles with the assassin. Shots are fired into the walls surrounding them as the fight continues. Chase forces the hand's back, managing to point the gun at the assassin's neck. He squeezes the man's hands, firing a single bullet into his throat. He loosens his grip on the weapon, allowing Chase to take control. He gets up awkwardly and points the gun at the assassin's head.
CHASE
"Who sent you?"
There is a long pause as the assassin catches enough breath to speak.
ASSASSIN
"Go…to hell…Chase."
Chase fires one more shot to the man's head, killing him immediately. Kim rushes towards him, throwing her arms around him in an embrace.
KIM
"I thought they had you. I thought they killed you."
CHASE
"They got my neck, but it was superficial, I'm fine baby. Don't worry."
They embrace for a few more seconds before Chase leads her around the corner to his vehicle. They get in and speed off.
KIM
"Where are we going? CTU?"
CHASE
"No. We can't. That guy knew way too much, CTU may have been compromised. We need to get out of LA."
KIM
"So where are we going?"
CHASE
"Union Station."
Chase thinks he's doing the right thing but they speed off into danger.
INT. CTU LOS ANGELES – 3:35 am
Mark comes back from the bathroom and sits down at his station again. Edgar turns around and looks at him, trying to read his feelings. He sees a sad looking expression as he aimlessly taps away on his keyboard, doing all the remedial boring tasks.
EDGAR
"Everything OK Mark?"
MARK
"Yes, why wouldn't it be?"
EDGAR
"I saw you talking to Melanie earlier Mark."
Mark hangs his head, not liking anyone prying into his personal affairs. He doesn't want to hide anything, he hadn't had much chance to make friends since being at Division in training, Melanie had been the closest thing to that, and she used him whenever she could.
EDGAR
"You shouldn't let her walk all over you like that, you don't deserve it."
MARK
"I know."
Edgar sees the look on Mark's face, the same look he has put on many times in the past when he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him.
EDGAR
"Hey, don't worry. I won't ask any more questions. And if you need any help getting rid of her, then come to me."
He looks up and over to Chloe's station, seeing her and Melanie coming to blows yet again.
EDGAR
"Or just tell Chloe to open her mouth."
MARK (laughing)
"Suppose I could always tell her another few things…"
Edgar fires a warning look at Mark as he laughs it off as a joke. The two go back to work.
The scene moves up to Jack's office, where George has decided to reside in. Tony walks up the stairs slowly, not wanting to talk to George right now, but realizing that he would need to. He tries to break the ice with a little humour.
TONY
"You've moved into Jack's office? You sure he'll be OK with that?"
George fails to see the funny side of it and remains staring at his desk, continuing to write.
TONY
"I'm sorry about Chloe. She's like this with everyone."
GEORGE
"Doesn't stop her being right."
TONY
"What do you mean?"
GEORGE
"Think about it Tony. Three and a half years ago I should have died after being caught in a cloud of weaponized plutonium. But I chose the cowards route, and I sent someone else. I've hated myself ever since that day."
TONY
"You weren't to know what was going to happen."
GEORGE
"That's not the point Tony. It's my fault Agent Brown died such a pointless death. He had a family you know, a wife, three kids, the whole shebang."
TONY
"This isn't the time for self-pity George. We need you at 100 here today."
George looks up in surprise at Tony, feeling a kind of acceptance for the first time today.
GEORGE (Smiling)
"Everytime I come in here, someone's not happy to see me. It's nice for someone to need me for once."
Tony smiles as well. Although he and George had never really seen eye to eye, he felt for him feeling so responsible over the Agent's death. He can tell that George would much rather talk about something else.
TONY
"Jack should be at the Warner house in a few minutes."
GEORGE
"Alright, make sure he doesn't kill anyone."
Tony smiles as he leaves the office, acknowledging Mason's dry humour.
INT. SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY'S OFFICE – 3:44 pm
Stephen Byrne looks anxious as he sits in his office chair. His usual look of smug contentment has been replaced with red-faced bluster. He clutches his desk phone to his ear as he seems to be arguing with someone.
BYRNE
"What the hell did you do? I asked you to spread some false truths to make him slip up, not make him resign!"
The screen splits to show the man Byrne is talking to. He is a short, young looking man in a sharp, professional suit. He looks as anxious as Byrne does, and seems to be taking a telling from him.
MAN ON PHONE
"Stephen, I didn't do that. He resigned of his own accord. Don't accuse me of something I didn't do."
BYRNE
"You must admit that it seems a little fishy. I've had the President accusing me of telling the Senator to pull out! You must have said something."
MAN ON PHONE
"I'm not listening to this. Stephen, I didn't do anything illegal or immoral. Senator Daniels pulled out for other reasons, reasons for which I am trying to find out. So get off my back."
He hangs up abruptly, leaving the Secretary hanging. We see him seethe as he replaces the phone, trying not to throw it against the nearest wall.
EXT. WARNER HOUSE – 3:51 pm
Jack gets out of his CTU car and takes a deep breath. The last time he was at this house, he was picking Kate up for one of their dates. A long time ago, Jack thought, a lot had happened. But once again, he realized that it was his fault the relationship ended, how he pushed her away after going undercover with the Salazars. He was a heroine addict the last time he saw her, why should she want to see him? He takes another breath, beginning to walk up the long, beautiful drive.to the front door. He rings the doorbell, even recognizing the sound of that. He hears someone running to answer it, his heart leaping in his chest when she opens the door and he sees her. It's Kate.
KATE
"Jack. Wow. It's been a while."
JACK (avoiding her gaze)
"Yeah…it has. Is your father in?"
KATE (suddenly fearful)
"No. Not right now. He's still at the office. Why Jack? Why do you need to see him?"
Jack pauses, he knows that Kate knows exactly what he's going to say next.
JACK
"I can't tell you Kate. You know that."
Kate looks away from Jack, the events of the day of her sister's arrest coming back to her.
KATE
"You're here to arrest him again, aren't you?"
JACK
"No Kate, I just need to ask him some questions. His name came up in a search we were doing. It's just routine."
Kate still looks fearful, Jack's attempt at reassuring her falling on deaf ears. She moves aside and motions to Jack to come in. He looks around and sees the interior of the house he'd called home a few nights all those months ago. He looked to the staircase, remembering Kate leading him up it on a few occasions, and the comfortable looking couch in the hallway. He always thought it looked so out of place, and so did Kate. But they spent so much time on that couch, just laughing and being together. He missed the laughter he had with her. In fact, he just missed laughing. Kate walks him into the living room and they sit down. There is an uneasy silence as Jack sits down, desperately searching his mind for something to say. But he always found that he could never find the right words to say in conversation, unless he was interrogating someone of course. Kate breaks the silence in the room.
KATE
"It's been a while Jack...almost two years."
JACK
"Yeah…"
KATE
"I see you're still the conversationalist!"
JACK (struggles a smile)
"Well you know me."
KATE
"Well, actually, I don't really. I never did."
JACK
"Some things are better left in the dark."
KATE
"Not you Jack. You don't give yourself enough credit sometimes. You're an amazing person when you want to be."
Kate looks beyond Jack to the same couch Jack noticed when he came in.
KATE (smiling)
"Remember that couch Jack? We used to lie there for hours and just talk. I loved those times."
JACK (smiling too)
"I did too."
Jack knows that he has to focus for when Bob Warner returns, but he can't help but reminisce with her.
Split screen. The first panel shows Jack laughing and smiling with Kate, and we can see that they are getting along just like they used to. The second panel shows Mikhail and Cassel still in their van, heading towards Union station. The third shows Secretary Byrne, still fuming from the rudeness he was shown by the man on the other end of the phone. The fourth shows Tony with Chloe, both still trying to make sense of the scrambled data. The fifth and final screen shows Chase and Kim pull up to a parking space. The screen reverts back to just showing this frame in full. Chase turns off the ignition and turns to Kim.
CHASE
"You ready?"
KIM
"I think so."
CHASE
"I need to know your behind me on this Kim. I'm going against your father's wishes for this, I need your support."
KIM
"Chase, it'll be Ok. In the next few minutes, we'll be on a train out of here. We'll be safe there."
Chase leans over and kisses Kim on the forehead, making her smile and giggle a little. Chase looks at his watch, looking a little apprehensive.
CHASE
"Shit. We're going to miss the train. Come on!"
Chase and Kim exit the car and sprint towards the concourse. They almost knock a few people over in their haste, but it is no good, they reach the platform only to see the train pull away.
CHASE
"Dammit!"
KIM
"Trust you to get us here late Chase!"
Chase fires a cheeky glance back at Kim.
CHASE
"The next ones at five, it'll be busy, but we'll be safe here."
KIM
"Alright."
Chase leads Kim by the hand to the seats scattered around the station. They take a seat, smiling for the first time today, believing that they're finally safe.
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