EPISODE 20

EPISODE 20

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 11AM AND 12PM BRITISH ISLES TIME (5AM AND 6AM CENTRAL DAYLIGHT TIME)

CTU-EUROPE (LONDON)

"Jack says not to warn the freight train until he notifies us," Shari said, looking at the message Jack sent to her computer screen via his PDA, since Frankie McCourt was monitoring all cell-phone conversations from his high-tech bunker in London, which was shown in a splitscreen.
"What if Jack doesn' have a chance to??" Ray asked, causing Chloe to give him an unpleasant, disdainful look.
"Jack never fails, Ray," Chloe replied.

"What are the casualty estimates if the train is attacked?"Bill asked.
Shari answered, "Its carrying large amounts of chlorine, phosphoric acid, and phosgene, all of which are extremely explosive and/or toxic. The explosion could trigger a firestorm that can spread ten blocks away. It will destroy all of Victoria Station and all of the buildings around it, which include commericial, government, and residential."
"Ok, folks, keep me posted," Bill said.

Bill then walked into a private room, where Audrey was sitting alone with her hands on her face. Her face was wet with tears and the smearing of her makeup.

"Audrey, I'm so sorry about what happened," Bill said, "None of us would have expected your brother to be capable of such things."
She nodded. "I know, Bill. Sometimes I just don't know what this world is coming to. Maybe I'm starting to understand people like McCourt, Marwan, and Bierko, but Richard?"

Bill patted her on the shoulder.
"I should have been more careful," Audrey said, "To think of it there were signs all along, and I should have made Dad more aware of it, how Richard continued to hang out with those psycho friends of his in their little liberation movement."
"It's over now, Audrey, your father's alive, that's all that matters. Soon, we will have control of the neutron bomb, this will all be over, and I'll treat you and Jack to box seats at the basketball gold medal game."

Audrey smiled through her tears as she thought of Jack and the possibility of them being together again for good. It was more shock than grief, what she felt about Richard. Richard had never considered himself part of the Heller family and had espoused his hatred for Audrey after she had sided with Jack during his interrogation during the day of her kidnapping.

"I'm just so worried about Dad, he's been through so much in the past couple years. He's changed so much and he's not the same person he used to me. It really tears me up inside to see what all this has done to him."
"I know, Audrey, it's the reality of the world we live in these days. You should talk to your father, make sure he takes control of the country as soon as possible. Mike Novick's a good man and a great advisor, but he's never had to make hard decisions on his own before. Very soon news of these coming attacks will reach the American public, and we need President Heller there to steer the people through these times."
"I know, Bill, I'll see what I can do."

LONDON

A split screen showed Jack and Clyde observing the jumble of railroad tracks leading through the city around Victoria Station, Gladys, Benny, and Patrick walking through the concourse, McCourt in his operations center, and President Heller sitting in his hotel room with a forlorn expression on his face, then in another split screen Audrey places a call to her father.

"Gladys, Frankie gave us direct orders. You are to hold your position and attack the trains inbound from Luton and Sheffield as well if there's one," Jack said.
"You're just a newcomer, you're not going to tell me what to do."
"Gladys, Frankie placed me in charge here, and I am relaying his orders to you."
"Go to hell, Jack," Gladys spat into his phone, "If Frankie's going to go down in history as the father of united Ireland, I'm not just going to melt into the background, not after everything I've done for him and for our cause."

McCourt's voice boomed into Clyde and Jack's phones.
"Stop them," McCourt said, "We need Jake and both of you alive, you're too valuable. We can't let that motherless, opportunistic egotist ruin everything we've planned for."
"We'll take care of it, Frankie," Clyde replied.

Jack placed a call to CTU. "Chloe, Bill, stop the train now."

The engineer of the freight train looked puzzled when he got the call but did as he was told.
"This is Southland Railways, inbound Cologne to Manchester, we copy."
"Just sit tight, it's a precaution," Bill said, "We believe there is a threat to Victoria Station and with the Olympics and everything in France…"
"Ok, chap, I know," the conductor said as he pulled on the brakes, the chemical laden train rumbling to a halt.

"What's Jack doing?" Chloe replied.

PRESIDENTIAL HOTEL SUITE, HOUSTON

"Dad," Audrey said, "Remember what you told me about being strong, being able to carry on no matter what? That day when Marwan's men kidnapped us in LA?"
"Yeah, Audrey, but its just…my son, my disowned son coming to kill me, killing one of my best friends and two other brave agents…"
"I know, dad, but its time for you to follow your own advice. That's what got us through our kidnapping, and Logan's conspiracy, and all the tough times we've had over the years."

"Thanks, sweetie, but I just don't know how much more I can take. Everything that's happened in LA is one thing, but, my God, watching Richard, my own flesh and blood, take out those guns, look straight into my eyes and try to kill me, after he tried to kill Mike's daughter and how he helped China…"

"Dad," Audrey said, "I'm as hurt and shocked as you are over this, but we can't afford to let what Richard did compromise you, me, or this country anymore. We are still in the middle of two crises, and America needs your reassurance. We have an imminent attack on British soil, the Chinese are coming closer to acquiring Sunbelt Airlines and driving all those people out of work and creating a dangerous precedent, and…"
"Audrey, I don't know…"
"You can do it, dad," Audrey said in a strong tone. "If you sit by and let Mike Novick take over for you in the greatest crisis the world has ever seen, you let Richard win! He wanted to destroy you, to weaken this country, to help the enemies of the American people grow stronger, and guess what? He's winning!"

LONDON STREETS

"Gladys, you're right," Jack said. "All my life I've fought for people, never got credit for anything."
"Oh, good to hear that, Jack Bauer," Gladys replied in his thick Irish accent.
"The train is stopped for some reason half a kilometer from the station property. If you want to know anything more, I want something in return."
"What?" Gladys and Benny both asked eagerly.
"I want my name to be known as one of the people who helped you with this. I want to be remembered by our Irish brethren for helping win our nation's freedom."
"Done. And what about Jake Francis?"
"Don't worry about that coward."

"Jack, what the hell?" McCourt cursed into the phone.
"Shut up, Frankie. Gladys is right. We're not gonna let you take credit for everything," Clyde replied, sensing Jack's ploy.
McCourt cursed and threw the phone halfway across the room, shattering a computer monitor.
"How are our other targets doing?"

A split screen showed a ferry boat sailing in the ocean, the exterior of a movie theater, CTU, and a truck on a street with McCourt's men keeping watch around it.

"Gladys, there's an overpass, a quarter mile from the south gate of the station, if you have the rockets, its an easy range, but it means we have to martyr ourselves."
"I will do it with pleasure," Gladys said, "We are not sissies. If the Lebanese and Chechens are up to it, so are we."
"Long hail Eire," Benny added.

Jack motioned for Clyde to follow him and the two raced back to the elevator, going downstairs and running across the lobby. A split screen showed them running along a busy London street, attracting glances, the terrorists from Victoria Station exiting the building and pointing to the roadway bridge, a scene at Hobby Airport with Sunbelt and Air China planes on the same tarmac, and President Heller walking back into the makeshift situation room in Texas.

MIAMI, FLORIDA / HOUSTON, TEXAS

Cliff Strattner, the owner and CEO of Southeast Airlines, got some coffee from his coffeemaker set amid a tastefully designed office overlooking the pinkish and white condos that dotted the shores of Miami's Biscayne Bay, where the sun was beginning to rise on the eastern horizon.

"Suz Novick?" he said into the phone.
"Yeah, we need a special videoconference within the hour as our attorneys mentioned to your secretary."
"Yeah, you know what this is about? Maria told me its sensitive."
"We will have to proceed with caution, and the President cannot be implicated in this, but my father does not want Sunbelt to be taken up by Air China. I think there might be a way for us to help each other, but I need your assurances that before we make further plans, everything stays between us."

CTU
"Okay, the three terrorists from Victoria Station are exiting, Jake Francis is heading away from the station, wait, he's turning around toward jack and Clyde's position. Jack and Clyde are converging toward the bridge where the terrorists are heading!" Ray said.
"I see what Jack's plan is," Bill said, "But he's taking too much of a risk."

Bill turned to the rest of the staff and asked, "Any updates on the other ones we're preventing?"
In a split screen, McCourt orders the terrorist in Manchester to activate his bomb, and the terrorist, an ordinary-looking, clean shaven Irishman, glanced at crowds of elementary school aged children as his fingers pressed down on a detonator and an explosion tore through the movie theater, sending people flying and setting cars and plants on fire.
McCourt spoke to another terrorist on another line. "Your turn."

LONDON

Jack and Clyde saw the three terrorists approaching the bridge from the other end, and Jake Francis rushing toward them, far off.
Jake suddenly stepped into the traffic, causing a green sedan to stop, the young female driver honking.
"What the bloody hell are you doing?" she yelled.
Jake pulled out his silenced pistol and fired a shot, which hit her cheek since she began to turn her head in surprise. Jake then opened the door, grabbed the woman and shot her in the head, leaving her bloody body as onlookers watched in horror. Jake went into her car, grabbed the blood-stained steering wheel and sped toward Jack and Clyde.

"Jack, what are you doing?" Gladys asked in surprise.
Jack raised his gun. "I tricked you Gladys, you fool! You tried to jeopardize McCourt's mission!"
Gladys pulled out his gun. "You bloody…."
Jack fired a shot into Glady's heart, the man falling over dead. Jake pulled up in the car and aimed at Jack, but saw Jack aiming at Benny and Patrick. Clyde took out a second gun and hid behind a bread delivery truck, its driver getting caught in the crossfire and killed by Benny.

Patrick took the missile out of his suitcase and aimed it at the train while Jack tackled him.
"You're McCourt's lapdog, Jack, sucking up to him cause you're the new chap!" Patrick snarled in rage. "I've been waiting for this day all my life and you're not taking this glory away from me!"
He kicked Jack in the groin but Jack twisted his arm as Patrick brought the missile up to fire from the bridge.

Benny saw Jake and fired at him, but Jake lowered himself as he slid out the door, bullets striking the driver's seat window, sending shards all over the street. A parked car caught fire as Clyde shot out its gas tank, igniting Benny as well. Jake then got up and shot Benny multiple times. Patrick's fingers reached the launch button on the missile but Jack turned the launcher away from the train, the missile leaving a trail of white smoke as it rushed skyward.
"Dammit!" Jack cursed. "Jesus Christ."
"Frankie, we got them," Clyde said, "That was just a ploy."

McCourt breathed in relief. "Should have trusted you, old chap. Good work."
"Frankie, we need to break radio contact for a moment, I need to explain things to my English friends at Mi6 as well as their American CTU friends."
"Understood. The other attacks are going smoothly so far, no interference yet."

"Chloe," Jack radioed, "We have a missile in the air, a Zircon surface to surface missile, its heading northeast."
Chloe typed furiouisly into her keyboard. A screen showed the Zircon as a missile developed by the British military two years ago.
"Ok, range is 20 miles, still airborne. Jack, open up the wiring in the launcher, we're looking for…."
"What are you doing, Chloe?" Bill asked. "What did jack say?"
"She's trying to help him reprogram a missile launch that's out of control," Shari replied for her and Chloe gave her a quick but heartfelt thanks.

"Jesus, this is not good," Shari said, "At current trajectory, the missile is headed for the Forum Hotel on Cromwell Street near Kensington Gardens, 26-story building, packed with tourists."
"Jack, you need to access the control panel and type in the override commands, we have two minutes before the missile reaches its target."
Jack tore open the high-tech device. "Ok, its not programmed yet, that was a random launch."
"Ok, the commands for the override, first enter star, Y, 099…"

CTU was scrambling at this point.
Audrey Raines shouted over to Ray.
"Ray, give us an update on the situation in Manchester."
She then returned to her phone. "Yes, I need to speak with the Belgian navy commander out of Antwerp, its urgent."

"C'mon, c'mon," Jack said as he tried multiple commands until one finally worked. He had twenty seconds left before the missile zeroed in on its target.
"Ok, we can bring down the missile in the Thames two miles west," Chloe said, "Coordinates are…"
Jack typed into the commands and saw the missile change direction. The camera panned to an aerial view of the missile headed for the Forum Hotel then make a wide turn. The missile splashed down in the river, sending a huge splash that splashed down on cars and pedestrians on a bridge and diners at a riverfront café.

CTU

"Yes, Commander Collier," Audrey said into the phone to Belgium, "We believe weapons grade anthrax was just released on the last ferry out of Norwich inbound to Antwerp. You need to have a bioterrorism emergency response team and quarantine the ship at sea and keep all other vessels out of the immediate area."
"Jesus, Ms. Raines, are the same people who attacked Paris responsible for this."
"It's a Northern Irish fringe group allied with jihadist elements, that's all we know right now. So far we do not believe there is a direct threat to your country, but do you have those resources at your disposal?"
"Yes, of course, I'm given the orders to dispatch the ships already."
"Also, the President believes a precautionary curfew in the more violent neighborhoods in Antwerp and Brussels, but the call is yours. Keep me posted. Thanks!"

HOUSTON

"Mr. President," Mike Novick said with relief, "Nice to have you back. I wouldn't mind being the shortest lived Chief Executive in our nation's history. You holding up?"
"Yeah," Heller said, weakened but still the fighter he's been all his life. "I'm proud of my Audrey. She was there for me. I can't ask for anything more in a daughter." He then got to business. "Any updates?"

"Yes, sir," Peter Ricardo-Sanchez said, "Jack and Clyde are still undercover with Celtic Cross and McCourt's struck multiple targets across Britain in the past ten minutes."
"What?"
"Prime Minister Landsdowne decided if we intercepted all the attacks, McCourt will suspect something and immediately detonate the neutron bomb, but Jack managed to prevent a major catastrophe at Victoria Station and a police team intercepted a truck bomb at a high-rise London apartment. However the anthrax was released on board the English Channel ferry though Belgian naval forces are quarantining the vessel at sea as we speak and medications will be provided to the passengers. Most are expected to survive."

"Good, now what's the bad news?" Heller knew Landsdowne had been forced into an impossible decision. Audrey had told him about Logan's quandary regarding the Chechens' release of Sentox at the Sunrise Hills Mall in Los Angeles, and this was worse.

Peter replied, "The terrorists managed to detonate powerful vehicular bombs at a convention center and movie theater in Manchester and Birmingham, we're looking at upwards of 400 dead so far, and casualties are still mounting from two attacks in downtown London."
"My God. Are we any closer to the bomb?"
"Jack will be checking in as soon as he can, sir."

"There is another problem, Mr. President," Nate Williams said. "I need to speak with you in private."
The two men went into a corner of a room and Nate whispered, "Mike Novick is going behind your back in intervening in the Sunbelt deal."
"He was actin President in my absence," Heller said, showing signs of annoyances.
"He is using illegal and corrupt means to make sure the China deal falls through so…"
"And were you here when the Chinese conspired with my son to murder Mike's daughter, to blackmail this terrorism investigation? When they murdered two American citizens less than twenty miles from where we are now?" Heller was angry now.
"Mike should have told…"

"I will bring this up with him, but all day you have been at his throat, why? I don't know where you started your vendetta with him, but I'm not going to let it impact the efficiency of my administration like its done for the past year we've been in the White House."
"Mr. President, with all due respect, I believe that if China…"
"Mike Novick has been in politics since when you were still in Michigan interning for that discount law office," Heller said with disgust, "He knows how to handle things. And let me let you in on something, Nate. If I win this election, you will not be in my Cabinet. Now if I may, I have things to tend to."
Nate stood alone in the corner like a little kid in time out, then his head slowly lowered as he slumped into a chair with a hopeless look on his face.

LONDON STREETS

Frankie McCourt's private helicopter landed inside a green park near Victoria Station and Jack and Clyde boarded it along with Jake Francis.
"Excellent work, people," McCourt said as his pilot steered the plane to the south. They could see plumes of smoke rising from two locations in the city where the terrorists had successfully struck.
"So have the British given in to our demands yet? Any communications from Landsdowne?"
"None whatsoever. We are prepared to detonate the weapon within the next thirty hours, upon his response to the current attacks. In fact, we are undergoing final preparations in case things must end that way."

Jack dialed buttons on his phone so Chloe could hear the conversation from CTU.
"Yes," McCourt said, "Right now we are going to secure the trigger for the bomb. Clyde, I trust you, that's why I need you here. It is times like these when mistakes happen."
"I know what you mean."
McCourt nodded. "Faisal Hassan and the Abbas brothers told me about Habib Marwan. His plan was impeccable, except a young boy in his cell couldn't get rid of his girlfriend and blew everything. I made sure everything was in control. Look, we're coming upon the location now."

CTU

"Ok, I've got the satellite zoomed in. its in Southwark, a theater district south of the Thames near the London Eye and the Millennium Dome."
"Get me the address," Bill said, "Do we have any teams standing by?"

LONDON
The helicopter hovered for a moment above a mass of brick mid-rise buildings and tree-lined streets in an artsy looking part of the city, then landed on the rooftop of a movie set made to resemble ancient India.
Several of McCourt's terrorist force arrived in several vehicles and secured the area.

Jack saw a shadow of a young woman approach through an archway decorated with Hindu symbols, her dark hair mixing in with the artificially exotic surroundings.
Her eyes met Jack's, but before either could speak, McCourt came forward to greet her.

"Nice to see you made it, Mandy."

…..12:00PM