The following takes place between 12pm and 1pm. Events occur in real time.
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12:00
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Vice-president Wallace Brady goes to the pitchers mound for the ceremonial first pitch. He enjoys the crowd cheering for him. Nobody is chanting his name, but they keep chanting "U.S.A. U.S.A." And the applause makes Brady feel good.
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Jack Bauer is preparing to go to the raid on the D.C. subway station. If Denisov is right, one of the cannisters will be released here. Vic Mackey wishes to come along, Jack is hesitant to allow this.
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Vic: We both know you need all the help you can get right now.
Jack: I need someone I can trust.
Vic: What, you don't trust me?
Jack: Not for awhile now.
Vic: You really want to fail because you couldn't take along one extra man. We both know that, at my worst, I would never work with Second Wave.
Jack: But you would let them strike rather than do something for free.
Vic: I was just bluffing.
Jack: So you say, now. I may regret this, but you can come along.
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Mary sits at the game, while the fire commissionar gives some speech. Where are Ishmael and Jamal. Their brothers and sisters are striking in less than one hour. If they don't get here soon, Mary plans to just start shooting randomely, killing as many americans as possible.
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Raj arrives at the baseball game. It becomes clear that there is much extra security. Raj becomes spooked. If he can't fulfill his group's objective, at least he can kill some people, and hopefully it will force president Bartlett to call off the elections in Kashmir.
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Lord John Marbury, the british ambassador to America, enters the White House Oval Office.
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Marbury: You asked to see me mr president?
Bartlett: Yes John. American intelligence uncovered a tape, from the qumari air force. According to our translators, it says that they mistook your commercial plane for an american spy plane. Time stamps prove this tape was made mere seconds before the qumari jets fired. What happened was a tragic accident, not an act of war.
Marbury: It does not change the fact that they are developing nuclear weapons, and making improvements.
Bartlett: Military retaliation would drive the moderates and the intellectuals into the arms of the hardliners. I plan to use this tape for blackmail. The prime minister is very proud of his air force, he doesn't want the world to know they can't tell the difference between a spy plane and a civilian airliner. It would be easier to kind of apologize for the actions of one rogue pilot, and to offer a financial settlement to the victim's families. But if your government retaliates over this, the truth will come out, and England will lose credibility should military action become neccesary later.
Marbury: I will relay this to prime minister Grady, but we both know it might soon be neccessary.
Bartlett: We're not there yet. Diplomacy John, the duty of statesmen.
Marbury: And here I thought it was drinking and dancing.
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12:12