02:00:01 --- 02:00:02 --- 02:00:03 --- 02:00:04
Nick's
place
Within seconds, the scene is alive with gunfire. It's
like a battlefield with the underground facility still on fire,
bullets flying from everywhere, the FBI team trying to take cover and
not lose even more agents.
Agent Brown spots one of the agents running towards the house and shouts: "TOMMY GET DOWN!", but in the next moment, Tommy falls to the ground, hit by four bullets from all sides.
Brown can make out a shooter in the woods and fires back. A loud groan confirms the hit. A shot whistles just inches past his head. He ducks and takes cover again, firing back in the direction the last shots came from.
CTU
Lisa and Jack take a few steps away from
the others. She begins the update. "NSA has been following
Petrov for months. They've had his location pinpointed, too. And,
from what I'm getting in the small amount I've glanced through..."
Lisa pulls up the breakdown file that updates organizations each day.
"The FBI is involved and had men very close to this operation. I
wouldn't be surprised if they had an undercover agent inside. Which
means, Kim's probably got help."
Lisa smiles but continues, "Anyway...location...Tujunga Canyon, right at the entrance to the San Gabriel Mountains. There are plenty of locations for a person to get lost, stash equipment, even bring in helicopters and small planes without being noticed by the general population. This is where Petrov's team is. Give me five minutes, I'll get airspace permission and we can go."
"Lisa, I'd rather you stayed here, I might need your inside help. Let me just go out there and see if I can find anything that connects Petrov with today's events or what he's up to. I should be back within the hour."
Lisa sighs, she should have expected this. "You know I'll do whatever you ask..." she glances towards Michelle who is looking their way, "But don't do this to protect me. I can handle myself, that much you should already know and, Jack... Nina's in jail.", she whispers the last words.
She knew that was at least one thing Jack was afraid of. "However," now she speaks in a normal tone, "at least take someone with you. Kevin can go and he won't get in the way."
Nina. Just hearing that name cuts like a knife already. But yes, she's in jail and he's going to make sure she stayed there. That woman didn't deserve any more of his thoughts being wasted on her, so Jack focuses again on what lies ahead.
"You trust Kevin?" Lisa says yes. "Fine, send him to the chopper, I'll be right there." Jack makes a move to leave but notices Michelle's curious looks in their direction. "Lisa, you and Michelle should work together. She's on our side."
The Car
"I
really appreciate this," Kim glances out the front to try to see
the hospital, "You'll never know how much I appreciate this.
Don't think you have to stay around. I'm not going to press charges
or anything."
Heather smiles. "Oh, no, that's the least we can do, Kim. We'll wait until we know you're okay. It's right around the corner now.", she says as she nears the crossroads.
Heather turns into the parking lot of the hospital. "Come on, let's get you in the ER."
Hospital
ER
Finally in the ER, Kim has one concern. "I need to
make a phone call as soon as possible," she announces to
Heather, "It's very important." But as she looks towards
Peter, she notices the expression on his face. "Don't worry,
everything's okay. I just need to get in contact with someone."
She tries to smile to make him feel better.
Kim glances around carefully then speaks, "Heather, I need to talk to you. It's important."
Before Heather can answer, a nurse walks over to them. "Hello, I'm Mary." She notices Peter hiding behind Heather's legs. "Hi, little man. You alright?"
Peter nods but stays hidden. Mary goes back to doing her job. It's not like she had time to play around with some tiny brat. Her shift was supposed to be over two hours ago, but that bitch, Lauren, called in sick ten minutes before she was supposed to come in. Now Mary was stuck. But there is work to do. "Okay, what have we got here?", she turns to Heather this time.
Heather glances at Kim. "A car accident. She's got a nasty bruise on her leg. Might be her ankle."
Mary: "Okay. Let's get you checked. The doctor will see you now. Can you walk? I can get you a wheel chair if you like."
"No, thanks," Kim smiles - albeit briefly, "I'll walk."
CTU
If Jack
trusts Michelle, she will too. Lisa pulls out her cell to contact the
FAA and signals Kevin at the same time. "Kevin, you're going
with Jack out in the field. He's in charge out there, okay? What I've
taught you, ignore."
Kevin grins, "I always do." He shakes Jack's hand, "Nice to meet you. Lisa's told me a lot about you so it's quite an honor. She really admires you."
But just as the formalities end, the trouble sparks again.
"It's nice to see team spirit." Tony has approached fast and is standing beside Lisa, arms crossed. "Who are you on the phone with, Lisa?"
Lisa doesn't end her call, she doesn't look at Tony. "Lisa Elliott, clearance code 45DF4. CTU Los Angeles will be requiring helicopter flight space for the next 6 hours or more over Tujunga Canyon."
"I cannot..." Tony can't believe this. His orders have been overridden by someone who doesn't even work for CTU L.A. "Hang up, Lisa.", he urges her.
She continues to wait for the clearance, not caring to look at him.
"Hang up or I'll file a report with Division.", Tony is approaching her.
"Thank you. I'll let you know if there's anything further." Lisa ends the call and turns to Tony. "Jack has the airspace clearance."
"Yeah?" Tony glares at Jack, "Well, he still doesn't have the chopper."
Hospital
Kim
follows the nurse down the corridor, though her ankle is throbbing
painfully and it's clear she's limping. By the time she is finally
shown to a room, the pain has become so intense she doesn't know if
she can take it anymore.
Sliding up on the bed, Kim watches the anxious looks on Peter's face. "You'll have something to tell your friends." She hoped. She hoped nothing would go wrong... "I don't think it's broken," Kim says to Mary. "How long is this going to take?"
"I don't know. But you're in no rush, now. Just relax." Mary turns to Heather. "Are you her mother?"
"Uhm... No.", Heather regrets the answer she just gave almost momentarily.
"Then I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Only family is allowed in here."
Mary escorts Heather and Peter out. Heather glances back at Kim: "Don't worry. We'll be right outside."
The doctor walks in. "Hello, I'm Dr. Rogers. So...", he checks the form Mary filled out. "So, you hurt your leg. Alright, let me take a look."... He works down her leg from the knee, asking "Does that hurt?" as he moves on to her ankle. "We will need to X-ray it to be sure, but it's probably not broken. The ankle doesn't look too good, though, I'll give you something for the pain."
Kim relents, it might be best to just wait here for awhile. But she still needs to talk to Heather, at least to convince her to leave. "I really need to speak with the woman who brought me in, please. It's very important."
"Of course. As soon as we're done here.", the doctor smiles.
CTU
Jack
walks over to Tony. Why did Tony always have to make things
difficult? "Tony I don't need a pilot, I'll fly it myself. Just
let me go.", Jack asks him in a friendly tone. Tony's
unimpressed, his face shows no reaction.
"Tony what are you trying to do! This is not only about Kim any more. Can't you see you've got bigger problems than trying to stop me from finding my daughter!
"Yeah I've got bigger problems but I don't need you adding to them!" Tony's standing his ground, unconvinced that Jack can hold his head above water for long. "For us, it's not about Kim. For us, it's about why Kim was taken, why these Petrov brothers want you involved, and why AG Mills was killed. But for you, Jack, today will be about Kim until she is safe. I completely understand that you're worried - you should be. But let us do our job and don't get in the way. You've helped locate where she was. Now wait."
"WAIT!", Jack is appalled. "You mean like last year? When I trusted you to protect my family and lost my wife? Almost lost my daughter? No, I don't think so! You're doing your job, fine, but you're doing nothing to solve the problem. You had nothing on these guys before I came in and you know damn well you're gonna need my help today."
He's right in Tony's face now. "Yes I'm worried about Kim and I don't believe you can find her in time, but I also know that the answer to what the Petrov's are up to can be found on their location and I'll find it, whether you agree to it or not."
Before the two men are at eachother's throats, Lisa decides to intervene. "I think Tony will agree to let you go as long as someone goes with you, Jack. Right, Tony?" Lisa has physically pushed herself between themt now. If anything is going to happen, she'll be right in the middle of it.
Tony's only eye contact is with Jack, but he responds to Lisa. "Right. You've got Kevin ready, don't you?"
"That's right." He must have overheard everything. Good hearing, she thinks.
"Fine. Send the two of them." Tony glares at Jack, "You report the minute you're on the ground. I want you to maintain radio contact with Lisa since she seems to be the only one you're willing to listen to."
He turns and stalks away, unhappy but ready for what the next hours will bring. It's time to let Jack do his job. Jack's eyes follow Tony's figure. If Lisa hadn't done what she did, he would have smacked Tony one.
"Now let's go to work, Jack." Lisa gently puts her hand on his arm to bring Jack back to reality. "We have a job to do, right? And you gave me an assignment which I intend to fulfill. Kevin," - he's standing to the side -, "go out to the landing pad and make sure everything's ready. Jack'll be right out." Kevin leaves.
Jack stands there for a moment longer. Tony's still giving him a hard time, he thinks. One of these days that guy's going to go too far.
Then he abruptly turns away. "Yeah. There's work to do." He walks out and towards the landing pad without a further word to anyone.
Hospital
As
soon as he's done? "Why..." Kim sighs in frustration but
allows the doctor to work. So many thoughts run through her head at
once, she wishes she could relax. And then Nurse Mary provides her
with pain meds. "Thanks," she sips water to take them with.
"A phone, too? As soon as I can make a call, please."
Mary: "Oh, don't you know? The phone company's having some trouble. The phone lines are down in the entire area. Probably won't be up again until tomorrow." She notices the anxious look on Kim's face. "Sorry about that. Why don't you just stay here and relax for a while. You'll feel better when you've had some sleep."
The doctor decides Kim is ready for X-ray and Nurse Mary takes Kim there, pushing the bed out of the room and towards the x-ray room.
Outside, Kim glances around, but Heather and Peter are nowhere to be seen.
Helicopter landing pad, CTU
Jack
swiftly joins Kevin and the pilot by the chopper. Putting on the
helmet, he climbs in and they take off. The pilot informs them the
estimated flight length is about 15 minutes.
in a different
chopper
Nick is still busy with his laptop.
SEARCHING...
the screen informs him. Then, finally, a hit. He brought up a hidden file from the disc. He clicks on an icon called SSBN. A spreadsheet opens. Dates, numbers, names, locations. "Got it?", Mick asks.
"Of course. Our source is reliable. Everything we need to know is on here. I bet Mills never knew what was on this disc." Nick smiles as he says this. "I just need to know how he got the disc in the first place."
He starts looking for the author of the file and stumbles over a code. He switches to a Government search engine, types in this code and it yields an ID: Agent Michael Burton, CIA. .
"Gotcha!" Nick mumbles to himself, then takes out his cell phone and makes a call.
Hospital
An
uneasy feeling washes over Kim as her ankle is x-rayed. Maybe Heather
took Peter to the cafeteria or she took him home. But something's
wrong. Kim can feel the pain medicine beginning to kick in, her head
is getting fuzzy. "Excuse me? Nurse? Someone?" How strong
was the medicine? She fights to keep her eyes open. Joey, someone
needs to get Joey. Help him! Where is he? What if Pat is able to
escape and find them? Kim can't get up, can't move. The medicine has
taken over.
CTU
Tony is locked into the chopper's
radio and is in contact with the pilot. "Terry, take them to the
canyon and wait. Don't leave. I don't care what Jack Bauer tells you
to do, you're under my command."
Terry glances at Jack, "Gotcha, Tony." He brings the chopper to a steady altitude. "We're at 7000 feet."
"Tony," Lisa is next to him now. What she wants to do is to reprimand him for the inconsiderate way he handled Jack, but she won't. "We know Kim's not at the Petrov compound. Why don't you work with my NSA contact on what they have?"
He rolls his eyes, "I'm not an idiot. Jack's got you on his team. No, I'm doing just fine right here. You work with your contact."
Lisa tosses a look at Michelle before walking away.
Chinatown
"Another
wild...goose...CHASE!" George kicks the car tire before getting
back inside his car. More than two hours wasted! On what! NOTHING!
This source was a no show! Stupid stupid stupid!
He'd figure out who it was later. And then do something.
He speeds away from Chinatown back towards CTU. Hopefully it's the same, loveable place he knew before Lisa came.
Oh great. Jack! George slams his fist on the wheel. He'd forgotten Jack had returned as he was leaving. He pushes the gas pedal to the floor. If ever there was a reason to go to work...
Air Force One,
somewhere over Los Angeles
David Palmer is waiting. Waiting
for what? Waiting for who? Well, right now he's waiting for Aaron
Pierce.
"Mr. President." Aaron hands him two pills and a glass of water.
"Thank you, Aaron. Can't let the people see their President with a headache." Both men share a grin as they prepare for the afternoon's set of meetings. "It has been a tough morning."
Palmer had spent it with his lawyer, making final changes on the divorce papers. He'll likely hear from Sherry later today and he certainly isn't looking forward to it. He frowns at the thought of having to face her, personally or on the phone.
"Sir, Air Force One is preparing to make its decent. We'll be landing in about 30 minutes."
David nods. He hadn't been to LA for quite a while now. His thoughts drift to the Presidential Primary last year, the events of that day and Jack Bauer... What is Jack doing now, he asks himself. Has he been able to get over his wifes death? Things have changed now. If he has a minute or two in LA, he'll give him a call. Just to see.
CTU
Tony
receives a call on his cell phone. A deep male voice sounds from the
other side of the line.
"Mr. Almeida. Don't answer. I have
information that concerns your current investigation and that you
should know about. Meet me in 20 minutes at 333, South Spring Street.
Parking lot. Lower level." The line disconnects.
CTU
Helicopter
In the meantime, Jack has briefed Kevin on where
they're going and why. Off the radio, of course. He's going to need
someone to work with him out there.
"Kevin, I don't know what we're looking for yet, except that there must be something that connects these guys with my daughter's kidnapping and the assassination. I want you to keep your eyes open for everything that could be of any significance and report only to Lisa or me. Understood?"
Kevin nods. "Sure." Not the first time he's going to go over someone's head at CTU. He's used to that with Lisa.
Hospital
Heather and Peter
walk back inside after checking up on the dog in the car. Kim isn't
in the room. Heather walks up to a nurse and is informed Kim is in
x-ray but that she cannot go in there. She and Peter sit down and
wait.
CTU office / helicopter
Michelle is still
working on checking for military personnel with a reason for
vengeance. She stumbles upon a name and contacts Jack.
"Jack, I think I've got something."
"On the shooter?"
"Yes. An ex-marine. Mark Codis. Marine Corps Headquarters, Intelligence Department. Dishonorably discharged two years ago. Six trips to Europe in the last four months."
"Got a current address?"
"Last known location is LA. But that was two months ago."
"Okay, send his vitals to my panel."
"Got it."
"Thank you."
Jack hangs up and takes out his panel to receive the data from Michelle, briefly glancing at Kevin as he does so.
CTU
Tony says
nothing as he enters the coordinates into the computer database and
waits for information about where he is supposed to be going. It's a
parking garage alright, but is one of the few in the city that has no
sat feed on it. He'll have to go in blind. But now the question
arises - should he tell Michelle? Probably. At least someone would
know where he was headed if he never returned.
Tony grabs his id, weapon, and phone, then heads straight for Michelle but stops midway.
"How'd the babysitting go?" George is back and he doesn't look happy. "Did she give you any problems?" He's glaring at Lisa.
"No, George," Tony lies, "She's been very helpful. Where have you been? Did your source pan out?"
George chuckles. "He was a no show. But I got to see Chinatown. Great way to waste a couple hours. Get me up to date."
"Well..." Tony really feels the time crunch, "I'm on my way out to check a lead. I can't talk right now." He manages to get Michelle's attention briefly. "I'm going to call you from the road. Be ready." And he leaves.
CTU
Helicopter
Feeling free now that he's out of Lisa's range,
Kevin waits for Jack's call to end before speaking.
"She's told me about you," he pauses briefly to get Jack's attention, "Lisa. Based on the way she talks, no one could live up to the way she feels about you." He does a radio and weapons check. "I've worked with her for the last few months in field ops. Every move she makes is based on 'What would Jack do?'"
Kevin grins at Jack knowing full well Lisa would kill him should word of this conversation ever get back to her.
Jack smiles at Kevin's words. Lisa was still looking up to him after all these years. Good to know at least someone out there thinks he's doing his job well. "Lisa and I have been very good friends for a long time. We lost contact lately, though."
Jack lets his mind wander for a moment, back to a few years ago when Lisa, George and him worked together, back when no-one threatened his family, when Walsh and Teri were still alive and his marriage was happy. Then George hooked up with Lisa - and Jack was thankful for that.
"Hey, we'll get your girl back.", Kevin says and Jack is suddenly serious again. A beep on his panel informs him that the data download has finished. Focus, Jack! he tells himself and without any further comment on the Lisa subject, starts viewing the file.
02:59:57 --- 02:59:58 --- 02:59:59 --- 03:00:00