The following takes place between 6 pm and 7 pm

06:00:01 --- 06:00:02 --- 06:00:03 --- 06:00:04

CTU

Tony lifts the trunk and reveals a brown paper wrapped package in an otherwise empty and clean environment. "Burton didn't mention it but I have the feeling this is something he was leading up to revealing. He had nothing else with him." He picks it up slowly, no ticking, that's good. "Do you want to open it or should I?"

"We can't open it. It needs to be scanned first. Call the security in."

somewhere
The parachutists touch down and unsnap their chutes, and immediately drag them into the woods. Each using a small shovel, they start digging a hole to bury their gear, hiding it from view.

Codis' apartment / CTU
Jack isn't in the mood for answering questions right now. Especially not if he doesn't have the answers. "Kevin, just do the job, okay? You know we don't have much time and it's no use wasting it waiting for a team." The paper slip in his hand contains more than a number, there's also a name. Apparently, Kevin hasn't got Lisa on that yet, but it needs to be checked too.

CTU

Michelle's cell phone rings. "Tony, just one minute, ok.", she turns around to take the call. "Yes?"

"Michelle, it's Jack. Look, I want you to run a search on a Annabelle Peterson for me. Likely somehow connected to this guy Codis."

"Okay, Jack. I'll need a few minutes before I can get to it. I'm on something else right now."

"That's fine. Call me when you've got something. How's the search on the government projects going?"

"I gave it to Catherine. It's still running. I'll keep you posted."

"Okay." Jack hangs up and turns to Kevin again. "Keep in touch with Lisa, see if she can get you anything on that number." He walks back to the living room, and begins to look for clues again.

Michelle hangs up and turns to Tony

"Was that Jack?" Tony can tell from her expression that it was. Just who was calling the shots around here? A guy on voluntary leave? She doesn't answer, so, he gives in, sighing. "Yeah, I'll have it scanned by security."

He stalks off towards the security office. In every possible place, Jack was there. Every way, everywhere. He gave orders and the people followed. Tony would never be like that, he would never have that kind of presence. "Guys, I need this scanned to see what's inside before we open it. It could have sensitive material so please be careful."

Lisa is standing down the hall watching Tony's demeanor with the package. "It doesn't get easier."

"What?"

"This job. It gets worse if you want more out of it but, hey, what do I know?" Lisa hands him a read out of the number she ran. "Kevin called this in and I'm about to call him back. It's nothing, at least not to me. He thought it was a phone number but the system doesn't recognize it anywhere in North America. The seven-digits could be a code but it'll take longer to figure out where from and what it's used for. You want me to call Kevin or Jack?"

That Lisa, somehow she has gotten into his mind too. Tony stares at her for just a second. "Call Jack."

Lisa dials and then leaves Tony with the package. "Jack, it's Lisa. I think we'd be getting somewhere if Kevin was here working the codes and evidence and I was there with you. The number he gave me isn't a phone number." She fills him in on what she knows and doesn't know. "Jack.. .I'm better out in the field... I can't stay cooped up much longer."

Jack: "We're coming back in soon. Just hang in there, alright? I need you at the office. Have you got anything on Kim yet?" Jack stays on the phone with Lisa, but keeps on searching.

Jack finds a datebook hidden behind a locker and turns a few pages. "Hey, Kevin!", he calls and walks over to the bedroom, still on the phone with Lisa at the same time. "I think I've got what we need. Codis has been following Mills' appointments of the last two months very closely. Looks like he's been studying his movements, looking for the best moment to hit."

Kevin glances at the book. "Where Mills has been, Codis followed. Shouldn't be hard to verify that with security tapes."

"I can get someone started on that." Lisa has been listening closely but she continues to question Jack as she jots down the information and passes it to Andre. "Jack, I've got nothing. We've kind of been on hold right now not knowing where to go and waiting for you to give us a go ahead."

Jack can't believe what he's hearing. On hold? Just what was going on in there? It's not like they had nothing to do. Was George stalling things again? "Lisa, we're coming back in. Give me an update on what everyone is working on." Jack puts the datebook in his jacket pocket. "Kevin, let's go." They leave the apartment and start walking down the stairs.

CTU
Michelle walks over to Tony and the security guys. She sensed his discomfort. "Tony...", she pulls him over to the side, as the package is being scanned. "Tony, listen... I know how you must be feeling with Jack here again and people going around you on certain issues... but I want you to know that we're all on the same side here, we all have the same goal. There's too much to deal with today to let the personal stuff interfere with our work... Think you can make it to the end of the day?"

"I can make it till the end of the day." Tony looks at Michelle incredulously. Can she even be asking this question? It's not like he's Jack with this incredible personal life to look forward to.

"All clear." The security guard hands the package back to Tony. "Nothing toxic or flammable. The contents are small. Looks like a chip maybe."

Tony takes the package and thanks the guard. "We can open this at your desk. That way it'll be easy to process the information." Michelle wants to get back to work, they'll work.Michelle follows Tony back upstairs, to the office. She's not sure how things are going to work out with him and Jack. And she still hasn't had time to find out exactly what happened last night, hasn't been able to verify how the information left CTU using Tony's computer. Why wasn't he killed in the garage earlier? The shooter certainly could have shot him, he seemed to have gotten to Burton with easiness. Was Tony spared on purpose? She shudders at the thought.

That same feeling she had this morning overcomes her again. Was Tony a mole?

hospital
Heather is in Kim's room, staring out the window, as the contours of the city begin to get lost in the emerging darkness. Kim still seems to be asleep. Peter is sitting on the floor, gazing at this girl on the bed. He seems to be getting impatient.

CTU
Giving Jack an update on current projects isn't exactly easy as Lisa has really lost track of where everyone is since she has kept an eye on George and what he's been doing. "Um..." She glances towards the main floor, "Catherine's working on an assignment from Michelle, I've got Andre. Tony's involved with something..." Should she tell Jack? It's Tony's operation. On the other hand, it does involve Mills. "Tony's looking into information he got from a CIA agent who got killed while they were meeting."

Lisa makes her way to her main system and tracks what feeds have come through. "My NSA contact hasn't gotten back to me. We had a situation develop earlier that had to be controlled on this end but things have to filter through the system," she glances towards George's office, "if you catch my drift. The sat feeds are time-delayed so any heads up you could give me..."

Meanwhile, Tony breaks open the package and gingerly picks out the contents with tweezers. "Well, it's obviously a chip." He places it onto a reader and inserts it into his computer. "It'll take about five minutes to filter initial codes and then we'll know how much information is on it but we won't know what it is. Right now, um..." Tony glances around, "This is going to be something I'm on, okay? I don't want to drag anyone into a dangerous situation."

Michelle nods in agreement. "It's your lead, Tony. Okay. Look, I need to head back to my desk, alright? There's something I have to check up on."
Michelle leaves and starts running the search on Annabelle Peterson. Hopefully she'll have something for Jack before he returns.

George watches Lisa's movements and glances briefly at Tony and Michelle. They each have others doing extra work for them but Lisa must have dispatched Kevin to help Jack.

But he had called Division and that had been a mistake. Brad Hammond was breathing down his neck for answers - why was Jack Bauer involved? Who had called him in? Why the hell was he still around, using valuable resources? What was the status of their investigation into Mills' death? The updates weren't flowing in the office and his altercation with Lisa hadn't helped. She wasn't sending any information to him - not that she ever had been, but she certainly wouldn't now. It wouldn't be easy to get on her good side once he had to confront Jack.

"Jack," Lisa pulls up a map of the area and plots locations for businesses and hospitals, "I'm going to take a chance that Kim has gone to a hospital. How long will you be? Are you making any stops along the way that I should know about?"

"Okay, that's good. Do whatever you can, Lisa." But Kim is obviously not the only one in trouble tonight. "Is Tony alright?... Who was the agent he was meeting?..."

"Burton. Michael Burton.", she answers.

That doesn't ring a bell in Jack's mind. "What is CIA doing meeting a CTU agent like that? They usually don't like sharing information. Okay, look, we'll be there in ten minutes."

Jack and Kevin are now in the garage, Jack is peering through the car windows as he passes them by. Was anyone forgetful enough to leave the keys inside? He could break in, but keys would be easier. "Listen, I'm gonna need a vehicle, I need you to cover my back with George, okay?" Jack hangs up after Lisa agrees.

They're lucky. Jack opens up the unlocked car door and gets in, motioning to Kevin.

"You'd think with all the crime in LA people would be more cautious." Kevin has to grin as Jack hotwires the car and drives it out of the garage. George wouldn't be a problem for him. Heck, he didn't seem as bad as he'd been made out to be. The trick now was to get to CTU in one piece. "About the Bureau... Jack, they don't do things in a half-hearted fashion. The only reason they would have gone into that place would be on a rescue mission or if the coast was clear. We've got a connection to Mills through Codis and Codis is connected to the military. Did someone in the military set up the Bureau?"

secondary compound
John and Bill, the two guys that Nick assigned to finding Kim are in a car. "We'll start at the compound and go from there.", John says.

Bill agrees. "Yes, it's best that way. But the compound won't be empty. We'll have to be prepared."

Palmer

Palmer is waiting for his next meeting to start. Mike Novick walks into the room, giving him a meaningful look. "Mr. President. It's Sherry." Palmer sighs. Here we go.

He gets up, takes the phone from Mike and closes the door. "Sherry", he says neutrally.

"David, I cannot believe you're doing this. I agreed to separate but I never agreed to a divorce." She tosses the divorce papers on the table before her, loudly enough for him to hear on the other side of the line.

"Sherry, I can't trust you. And without trust, what's the use in staying together?"

"You waited until you moved to the White House to send your lawyer to me, David. You didn't even have the courage to tell the people-"

"The people, " he interrupts her, "are not in this relationship, Sherry. We are. No, we were. And it isn't working."

"You're wrong, David. The people are a part of it just as much. They have elected their President and their First Lady."

"No.", David says pointedly. "You keep your own counsel, Sherry. You are not fit to be First Lady. I will not allow you to scheme behind my back again. I've made that mistake once and I am about to correct it."

"Is that your final word, David? And think about your answer."

"Yes. It is." Palmer doesn't reflect one second before replying.

"Alright, then. This isn't over yet."

"You're wrong, Sherry. It is over. Here and now."

"You'll be sorry, David. Promise you that." Sherry slams the phone down and glares at the papers scattered on her desk.

"You want war? You can have it.", she mumbles.

CTU
Lisa begins her round of calls to area hospitals. Sat transmissions are coming in fast and furious and now Terry has radioed that he's landing.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm looking for a 16-year-old female, possibly admitted within the last couple of hours. Her last name is Bauer, first is Kimberly." She waits a beat. "Okay, let me leave a contact number where I can be reached in case she shows up." It would help if she had a photograph. Lisa sighs and rubs her forehead. How would she get that? She promises to fax the photo as soon as it becomes available.

The second hospital yields no results either.

The third has a Kim but none with the last name of Bauer. There are Jane Does but, without a picture, no match can be verified.

Lisa ends her calls in frustration. Then she contacts Tujunga Canyon sheriff's station and explains the situation. "Can I have a deputy on standby in case I need transportation in your area for a search and rescue?...Great, thanks."

Michelle's acting odd but Tony can't worry about that now. Codes are appearing and they need to be routed to the correct decrypting locations. "Andre, what's the router for the International Monitary Fund?"

"2097X," Andre breaks from his screen and looks up, "Why?"

"I'll know later, thanks." Tony sighs - processing, decoding, waiting. It's tedious and time consuming.

Andre pulls up the sat feeds that have claimed a match to Codis' face. He cross-checks them with Mills and the other names thrown around during the day. So far, two matches.

"Michelle, I've got Codis on video at the same location as Mills in Santa Monica three days ago. They're in line at an ATM."

driving to CTU
Jack is driving on a main road, thinking about what Kevin said. "I think this goes higher than the Bureau or the Military." It's a feeling, that's all. But something tells him he's right. Jack spots a police motorcycle in the rear-view mirror. The officer signals him to pull over. "Great. Just what we need."

Jack drives over to the side of the road and waits. He stole the car. This can't be about anything else. He could just hit the gas and let the CTU handle it. But he's not exactly on duty. He knows exactly what George would do and he can't risk it.

The officer leaves the motor bike behind the car and approaches the car window. Jack waits until the officer is by the car door, then suddenly drives backwards, crashing the motorbike and then quickly puts the car into drive and speeds away.

The policeman was momentarily caught off-guard. It takes him a few seconds to pulls out his gun and start shooting at the car tyres. But Jack is already too far.

CTU
"Okay. Send them to my directory. Anything else?" Michelle glances at Tony but doesn't say anything. Then she picks up the phone. "Lisa, we've got a match on Codis and Mills. Is Jack on his way?"

"He should be here in a few minutes, I just got off the phone with him. Keep the information organized so he can access it quickly, okay? It sounds like things didn't go well at the compound."

Lisa is gazing at the screen before her as the sat feeds of the area around the compound start rolling in. A few miles off the main road there is a shot of a car stopping and the next shows a person getting out and helping someone up. She'll need to enhance it for better resolution but it looks like a pedestrian was hit. Maybe it's nothing.

Andre is pulling up files fast and furious. "I'm still working on the checks. Nothing else yet but I would bet we get something soon. There seems to be a time lapse between the first two so I'm going to start checking by that configuration."

And the routers keep rolling for Tony. So far he's getting nothing but information that will have to be decrypted. Dots and dashes and dots and dashes. Maybe... maybe Morse Code?

Road to CTU
The policeman can't believe what just happened. "Oh he did not!", he thinks, taking out his radio. "This is Officer Johnson, I've got a 10-32 with that stolen vehicle. I'm following but need back up." Johnson brings his motorbike upright and gets moving. Someone takes down his bike, that boy ain't gettin' away with it.

"Could you have just stopped? Was that really necessary! You're only going to create problems we don't need!" Kevin is sick and tired of Jack's attitude, especially with this cop and why does Jack think he always has the answers? Lisa's not going to hear the end of this when they get back to CTU. If they get back...

"Uh...Jack? We've got company...", he turns to see, the policeman approaching them.

Johnson gains quickly then throws on his siren. "NOW! DO IT!" He's pointing his finger at the driver and motioning to the edge of the road.

hospital
Heather is sitting on the edge of Kim's bed. She has a bad feeling about the whole thing. Kim had said she wanted to talk to her about something. It left her feeling uneasy ever since. And now they've given her this medication, she's sleeping and they didn't get to talk. "Peter, come here.", she calls to the kid, who was about to open the door and leave the room. "Sit." She takes him and puts him onto her lap. She's unsure what to do. Should she wake Kim up?

Then she remembers. A phone. Kim said she wanted to talk to someone. That's what she's going to do. She'll find a phone. Heather gets up and takes Peter by the hand, walks out of the room in search of a phone.

stolen car
"Kevin, I don't have time for this. You don't like the way I handle things, you can get out right now!" Jack swerves towards the bike. The policeman dodges and returns behind the car.

"This is a stolen car. Where do you think he would have taken us? Escorted us to CTU and let us go? We don't have time to explain the situation to the police right now."

Jack hits the gas and overtakes vehicles randomly, driving like a roadhog. The motorbike has no problem following them.

CTU
Organize the files. "Sure." If only I had that much information, Michelle's thinking. Not much to go on so far. The search on Annabelle Peterson is still running. She gets up to check on Catherine, when her computer returns a result. Five persons bearing that name pop up.

She sits back down with high hopes of finally getting somewhere. She checks the names one by one.

One of them is a 10-month old girl. Unlikely that's what they're looking for.
Another one is a young teenager.
Two others are deceased.
The last one is 87 years old and living in Boca, Florida.

"Great. Nothing. Time and again. Nothing." Michelle bangs her fist on the table. More waste of time when they were short on time to begin with. She feels beat. Simply defeated. This was going nowhere. She buries her face between her palms and sighs.

Following Jack and Kevin
"District 12, where is backup! This guy's going in and out of traffic!"

Johnson's doing his best to keep up as they come into more and more traffic on the highway. "I need to get a roadblock set up."

As he spouts orders, he fails to smell the gasoline that is trailing behind him.

Stolen Car
"You're not even working for CTU right now!", Kevin yells at Jack. "Do you even know how much trouble -" Instinct takes over as a loud explosion interrupts Kevin, making him duck, hands over his head.

06:59:57 --- 06:59:58 --- 06:59:59 --- 07:00:00