Author's note: Another delay. Sorry, but at least this one's a long one. Notice the new synopsis?

24: Day 1.5

Previously in 24: Day 1.5 . . .

Marenkov was abducted from the hospital by ALEXI LENKOVICH and his men. MATT HARPER and Nikolai managed to track them back to Alexi's safe house and take Marenkov's daughter GALINA MARENKOV into custody, but Alexi escaped with Marenkov's information and Marenkov himself was fatally wounded. Just before dying, Marenkov uttered the numbers "seven-one-eight-three-two". While CTU struggled to figure out the meaning of these numbers, Matt and Tony interrogated Galina. She told them she didn't know where Alexi was going but the name of his employer was ALAN PAXTON. Matt learned from GEORGE MASON that Paxton was one of three former CTU agents who were arrested for taking bribes, but Paxton was thought to have died months ago. With no other leads to follow, Matt decides to pay an unauthorized visit to the man who arrested Paxton to begin with: another ex-CTU agent, named Jack Bauer . . .

The following takes place between 6:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M.

6:00:00 . . . 6:00:01 . . . 6:00:02 . . . 6:00:03 . . .

Lily rushed back to her terminal as she saw Mason walking down. It may have been paranoia on her part but she didn't like the looks he'd been giving her and Patrick all day and didn't want to do anything to make him more suspicious. She didn't know for sure what his policy one office romances were but given what the last one in this office had led to, she wasn't taking any chances.

She watched Mason walk past them and head towards one of the waiting rooms, maybe to spend a minute with the man Patrick had told her was Mason's father. As soon as he was out of sight, Patrick looked up from his computer and flashed her an "all clear" look. Lily simply shot him a look of disapproval and turned back to her station.

What he'd just told her was unbelievable. What was Matt thinking, trying to talk to Jack Bauer? Setting aside the fact that the man probably wouldn't give Matt the time of day, Bauer had also been effectively off-limits to anyone but officials from the hearings held immediately after the attempted hit on Palmer during the California primary last year. She even remembered seeing an interview with Palmer just after the primary where he basically asked people to respect the privacy of Bauer and his family and leave them alone to grieve. She couldn't speak for the press, but she suspected most government officials weren't in a hurry to get on the new President's bad side by disobeying him on that, least of all George Mason, whom she'd overheard more than once talking about some new job Palmer was supposed to get for him.

What bothered her even more, however, was the fact that Patrick had basically helped Matt to go see him. She'd known Patrick had looked up to Matt a bit. Being the youngest analyst here and, except for Michelle, the newest, the fact that he'd been eager to learn from Matt hadn't surprised her. This was going too far, though. She'd never expect something like this from Matt of all people, and what's worse, he let Patrick help him do it. On top of that, she now knew it as well, meaning he'd put her at risk along with Patrick. And for what? What use could a burned-out agent like Jack Bauer be to this investigation anyway?

I plan to be here for a long time, and I'm not going to let Matt Harper or anyone else threaten that.

6:09:13 . . . 6:09:14 . . . 6:09:15 . . . 6:09:16 . . .

At a time when he should have been watching over his people like a hawk as they tried to figure out what Marenkov's number's meant, George Mason found himself actually heading over to one of the waiting rooms to chat with his father. It's amazing what guilt can make you do. He thought.

"All right, Dad. Five minutes. What's up?"

Doug Mason shrugged. "I don't need five minutes, George. I just wanted to say I think it's time I headed out. I know I'm just in the way here and, frankly, it's a little more excitement then I'm used to these days."

George sighed. "Look, Dad, it's just--"

"You remember Joe Miller, my old Lieutenant when I was working Homicide?" Doug interrupted. "He had Alzheimer's, lived with it for almost a decade. Last time I saw him, he was just a couple of years into it. He was asking me how I was coming on cases I cleared thirty years ago. His wife said by the end he didn't remember the job, his kids, her. I just... I just don't know how long I got or bad it's gonna get."

The elder Mason put a hand on his son's shoulder. His moist eyes were the closest he'd seen to his father shedding tears, even when his mother died. "I guess I'm just trying to think of anything I should say while I can still say it. The only thing I can think of is don't make my mistakes. Talk to your son. No matter how much time you got, you never got as much as you think you will."

George did his best to hide his discomfort as his father's frail hands pulled him into a hug. "I love you, son." The old man whispered.

It lasted no more than a few seconds, all the while George hoping no one else saw them, before they parted. Doug picked up the jacket he'd draped over one of the chairs and headed towards the door.

"Um... hang on a sec, Dad." George began awkwardly. "I'll get someone to escort you out."

Doug turned and offer a slight smile. "I know the way." Turning his gaze back toward the exit, he headed out..

6:15:21 . . . 6:15:22 . . . 6:15:23 . . . 6:15:24 . . .

Matt sighed as he pulled up near Jack Bauer's place. There was no car parked out front and the lights were out. Obviously he wasn't there. So much for doing this quickly.

He turned off the engine and leaned back in his seat. He wasn't going back to CTU without what he'd come here for, so all he could do was wait.

Involuntarily his thoughts shifted back to Lauren and Danny. His son had just been taken hostage at gunpoint. He'd also just had to witness a man being killed right in front of him. Not that he thought Nikolai had been wrong to do what he did, but he worried how that was going to affect Danny. And instead of being there for my son, here I am, lying in wait to pry information out of a man who, by all rights, shouldn't have to deal with anyone from CTU ever again. No matter how much I tell myself this is something that needs to be done, all I can think about is what I'm missing.

Matt hoped Bauer would show up soon, because his thoughts were becoming increasingly depressing.

6:19:46 . . . 6:19:47 . . . 6:19:48 . . . 6:19:49 . . .

Sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, Alexi glanced over at the two muscled corporate thugs guarding door at the other end before turning back to Sergei. "You and I have to figure out how we're going get past them and out of here before Paxton gets back." Alexi whispered in Russian.

Sergei winkled his nose. "I don't understand."

Alexi shook his head. "It's quite simple. Paxton's keeping us alive until he's sure he's got the disc. Once he does, we become a liability to him, and for men like him liabilities are quickly dealt with."

Sergei shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "What can we do?"

Alexi squared his jaw. "I'm thinking." Giving the thugs another quick glance. "We could probably take one of them out but not both."

Alexi's mind began racing, as he remembered that Sergei was not only a programmer, but an engineer as well. Subtly, he pulled his phone and handed it to Sergei. "I'll take a look in the bathroom and see what I can find." He whispered.

6:26:20 . . . 6:26:21 . . . 6:26:22 . . . 6:26:23 . . .

Matt wasn't sure when he saw the SUV pull up that it was Bauer. It was a bit large for a man living on his own. But it's a decent size for a man who has a wife and kid, he reminded himself.

The second the man emerged from the car, Matt knew it was him. He and Jack Bauer had never actually been introduced, but he had watched one of the hearings after the attempt on Palmer's life. The man here looked almost nothing like that man though. His loose-fitting shirt and jeans, along with several months worth of beard suggested a man who did the bare minimum to present himself to the world. They certainly didn't suggest a man of his military and intelligence background. It also didn't make Jack appear more likely to help Matt out.

It didn't matter though. He had a job to do.

Matt found himself already out of his own SUV, working towards Jack. He turned towards Matt with a look Matt couldn't decide was suspicion or indifference.

"Agent Bauer!" He called out, immediately giving away the fact that he was a federal agent, though he suspected Jack had made him as such the moment he saw him.

Jack didn't say a word.

"Agent Bauer." Matt continued as he walked up to the man, pulling out his ID. "Agent Matt Harper, CTU."

Jack's look remained unchanged. "I know who you are, Agent Harper, and I have nothing to say to you. I don't work for CTU anymore."

Matt nodded patiently, already aware this was going to be an uphill battle. "I understand that, but there's something I need to ask you about."

Matt saw what he thought was a faint smile on his face. "Look, Agent Harper, I realize you're just doing your job, but that job's cost me too much. So you can tell George Mason or Ryan Chappelle or Alberta Green or whoever sent you that--"

"CTU doesn't know I'm here." Well, it's out now, he thought.

Even Jack let his eyes narrow slightly. "What?"

"If Mason knew what I was doing here, I probably wouldn't be working for CTU anymore either. But the fact is there's an individual we're trying to profile and right now and you're about the only person who might have some useful information on him."

What looked like a smile appeared on Jack's face, but it certainly didn't look friendly. "And who would that be?"

Matt steeled himself. "A former CTU agent: Alan Paxton, one of the agents you brought down for taking bribes."

The pseudo-smile disappeared from Jack's face, replaced by a look of impatience. "Alan Paxton is dead." Jack said curtly.

"Not if what I've heard in the past hour is true. Over the past eight hours we've been looking for a Russian arms dealer who was responsible for the death of a rival who intended to surrender himself to us. We managed to apprehend one of his associates who implicated Alan Paxton as the dealer's current employer. I can't go into the details but we believe he's trying to obtain a cache of weapons that the murdered rival was holding."

Jack stared in disbelief. "That's your only source? The associate of an arms dealer who's probably messing with you?"

Matt didn't back down. "How could she know who he was? Until today she'd had no connection to CTU. Until a few days ago she'd never even been to the US. This isn't a martyr or a fanatic we're talking about. She knows it's in her best interests to cooperate with us."

Jack didn't look convinced in the least. "You come to my home trying to question me and that's all you've got? This conversion's over, and as far as I'm concerned Alan Paxton is still dead."

Jack turned and started walking back towards his house. Matt felt one of his fists clench. Normally he would have had more composure when dealing with someone who didn't want to talk. But that was when I had the luxury of time. "With all due respect, Jack, that's what we thought about Victor Drazen." He called out sharply.

Jack stopped and Matt braced himself, not sure what a man in Jack's situation might do. As responses go, Matt probably couldn't have picked a riskier one. Victor Drazen had been a Serbian war criminal that was presumed killed in Operation Nightfall, a strike mission Jack had led nearly three years ago, a mission only Jack had survived. It was later learned that Drazen had not died in the attack, though his wife and daughter had. Together with his sons, Drazen had waited until the two-year anniversary of the mission to strike back as Bauer and then-Senator Palmer, who had authorized the mission. Their plan ultimately failed and Drazen and his sons were killed, Drazen at Jack's hand. Over the course of the incident, however, it was revealed that an agent at CTU had been working as a mole for Drazen. With her cover blown, she attempted to flee. Jack stopped her, but not before she killed Jack's wife Teri, who had apparently discovered her escape route. Given that, Matt could hardly fault Jack for blaming CTU and walking away from it, but it didn't change the fact that he needed the man's cooperation.

Whether this was a good way to go about getting it remained to be seen.

Jack turned back to Matt slightly. "If you think you can goad me into helping you, you don't know damn thing about me."

"I understand you've lost someone, Jack, and I am sorry for that, but--"

"Have you ever lost someone, Agent Harper?" Matt was taken aback by he question. He'd buried both his parents but a loss like Jack's? He continued before Matt could even consider a response. "Have you ever had someone taken from you, at the hands of someone you thought you could trust with your life, in a place you thought they couldn't be safer?"

"No. I haven't" Matt answered. What else could he say?

Jack nodded in acknowledgment. "Then, like I said, you don't know anything about me. I lost my wife at CTU. I almost lost my daughter. She and I have barely spoken since then. I'm not dealing with CTU anymore." With that, he continued towards the house.

If he walks through that door, you've lost him and you'll never get him back. The thought flashed through Matt's mind as he struggled to form a response. "You're right." He finally said, softly. "I don't know what you've gone through and I hope to God I never do. But I'll bet you know me. You know I have a job to do, and I can't leave here, I won't leave here until I do."

Matt had no idea if that had done anything, but at least he wasn't walking towards the door anymore. "I'll tell you what I can about Paxton on one condition."

Matt looked at him, already knowing what that would be.

Jack gave Matt a hard look. "You will never bother me or my daughter again. This is the last thing I ever do for CTU."

Matt nodded. He couldn't very well tell CTU never to talk to Jack again, since he couldn't tell them he'd been there. But he could had least make his own promise to the man. He only hoped they had more decency than he had to leave him alone.

"Thank you, Jack." Matt said, suddenly feeling quite sad and not knowing for sure why.

6:43:32 . . . 6:43:33 . . . 6:43:34 . . . 6:43:35 . . .

Tony had barely move from his station for over nine hours and this probably wasn't the best time to start but suspected he'd feel a lot better once he saw Lauren.

Heading towards the clinic, he hadn't expected to still see Agent Nikolai Torumov waiting just outside. He'd figured the FSB agent had left after admitting that his counterpart, Agent Natalya Tenyakova, had been attempting to kill Marenkov to keep his information from falling into Alexi's hands, and possibly CTU's as well. Then again, he wasn't surprised that the tall Russian wasn't eager to return to his office after doing that. He'd apparently gained Matt's trust, especially after saving his son, and probably hoped he could still find some use around here.

Tony felt for the guy but didn't think there was really anything else he could do here, and it didn't seem appropriate for him to stay since they apparently weren't working with the Russians anymore. He didn't think it was appropriate for him to ask him to leave though. Matt or George should probably be the one to do that. For the moment, he didn't see any harm in letting the man stay here. In fact, he seem to be staying close to Lauren and Danny, perhaps feeling protective of Matt's son. If it makes him feel like he's still got some good to do, why not?

Nikolai looked up at Tony from the bench he was sitting on. "Lauren and Danny are still in there?" Tony asked.

Nikolai nodded awkwardly. "Da. The doctor said they were both fine, but I think they prefer to stay here where they know it is safe."

Tony gave Nikolai a nod in acknowledgment and went in. Danny and Lauren sat on a pair of chairs in front of an operating table, probably waiting for a doctor to return with some tests. Danny's right arm was still in a cast while his left hand was in his mother's.

Lauren, a look of concern over her face, suddenly lit up as she saw Tony approaching. "Tony!" she said, both of them getting up. She smiled slightly as Tony pulled her into a hug.

"Hey, Laurie. I just wanted to see how the two of you were doing." He said after releasing her.

Lauren smiled. "Well as good as can be expected." She looked down at Danny. "You remember Tony Almeida, don't you?"

Danny nodded. "You went to school with my parents, didn't you?"

"That's right." Tony said, shaking the boy's good hand. Tony had rarely been around kids for most of his life. It always seemed strange how much they remember.

At that moment, the doctor, a short, thirty-something Asian woman, entered the room. "We're ready for Danny now, Mrs. Harper." She said.

Danny and the doctor walked towards the other room. Lauren started to follow when Danny turned to her. "It's all right, Mom. I think I can do it by myself."

Lauren paused tentatively. "Are you sure?"

Danny smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I'll be fine." The doctor put a reassuring had on Danny's back and led him into the other room.

Once Tony was sure Danny was out of earshot, he turned back to Lauren. "So how are you really feeling?"

The brave smile Lauren was wearing quickly faded away. "Like somebody just tore a piece of something out of me." She gestured to the other room. "I just can't believe he doesn't seem traumatized."

Tony gave a facial shrug. "I guess kids are a little more resilient." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Are you gonna be all right?"

Lauren sighed. "I'll manage." Her expression lightened again. "So how are you doing? I haven't seen you since Matt started working here."

"I know. I was sorry to hear about the two of you. If it was because I helped him get a job here--"

Lauren put a hand up. "No. No. Things haven't been great for a while. That had nothing to do with you." Tony doubted that was really the case. "So what about you? Last I heard, you were seeing someone here. What was her name? Nina?"

Tony shifted uncomfortably. "That uhhh... didn't work out."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Tony shook his head. "It's all right. I'm fine. I was one worrying about you two, remember?"

Lauren chuckled. "Yeah, I do. Thanks, Tony."

He leaned in a bit closer. "Can I ask you something? Did you ever tell Matt about us?"

Lauren paused, then shook her head. "No, no. That would've been awkward back then and it'd still be kind of strange now, especially now that you're working together."

Tony nodded. "Okay. Well that's probably for the best."

6:49:02 . . . 6:49:03 . . . 6:49:04 . . . 6:49:05 . . .

Alexi marveled as he watched Sergei work. He didn't have much to work with. Only the phone what Alexi had been able to pull out from the bathroom lights. He wasn't even sure if this could work but Sergei was one of the few people Alexi felt he could trust implicitly. But then again, so was Dimitri.

Shaking the thought off, he kept himself positioned to block Sergei from the view of the guards. Sergei already had his back to them and Alexi suspected neither of the two men were employed by Paxton for their high IQ's, but he wasn't taking a chance.

Finally Sergei nodded and handed him the phone, careful which parts either of them touched. The two thugs glared at Alexi as he and Sergei walked over to them.

"What do you want?" The taller of the two thugs asked.

Alexi looked the man as straight in the eye as he could. "There's something about the disk we forgot to tell Paxton." He held up the phone. "I've been trying to call him but I can't get a signal. I'd like to try out in the hallway."

The thug looked at the phone, then at Alexi. "Give me that phone." He grunted.

Alexi recoiled, keeping his eye on the thug while Sergei and the other thug stared at each other.

"I said give me the phone!" He repeated louder, moving menacingly towards Alexi. A look of fear apparently washed over Alexi's face and he timidly handed over the phone.

The second the thug's hand touched it, he began convulsing as the electrical current went through his body. The moment the second thug took his eyes of Sergei, he pulled the pen from his pocket and thrust it into the thug's throat.

Alexi braced himself in front of the first thug. The shock from the phone was already wearing off, so Alexi immediately buried his own pen in his throat as well.

Alexi grinned as the two thugs collapsed to the floor, trying in vain to stopped the rush of blood spilling from their throats, before turning to Sergei. "Come on!"

Stepping over the two dying men, the opened the door and ran out into the hallway. Turning a corner, they rushed towards the stairwell . . .

. . . And right into the path of Paxton and Willem.

Paxton folded his arms. "Well, this is awkward." He stared down at the blood dripping from Alexi and Sergei's fingertips. "Now, if I go look in that office, am I going to see those two men dead?"

Alexi and Sergei said nothing.

Paxton sighed. "I'm really disappointed, Alexi. We had an agreement."

"Agreement." Alexi sneered. "You would kill us the second you were certain you didn't need us anymore."

Paxton narrowed his eyes. "No, actually. I wouldn't. You're probably not used to dealing with people who keep their word. But the fact is you held up your end of the bargain, and I had, and still have, every intention of doing the same."

Alexi stared at Paxton. "I'm supposed to believe I can trust you?"

Paxton stared back. "Yes, because I said before I know what greed can get you."

Alexi's posture seemed to relax slightly

Paxton looked down at Alexi and Sergei's still bloody hands. "But the fact is you just killed two of my men, and there has to be a penance for that."

The words had barely registered with Alexi when he heard the muffled shot of a handgun with a silencer. In his peripheral vision, he saw Sergei fall to the floor, Willem standing over him with the gun in his hands. Looking down, Alexi saw blood seeping from the bullet hole in Sergei's forehead. His eyes were still open, showing the shock he felt in his final moments.

Alexi struggled to control his breathing as he looked back at Paxton. "Eye for an eye." Paxton said quietly. "We have the disc but it'll probably take a few minutes to decode the information. Come on." He put a hand on the still-stunned Alexi leading him back the office.

Paxton looked back at Sergei's body, then at Willem and shrugged. "Well, I guess the carpet needed to be cleaned anyway."

6:55:13 . . . 6:55:14 . . . 6:55:15 . . . 6:55:16 . . .

Lily looked over at Patrick's screen. "What are you doing?"

Patrick glanced at her and sighed. "I'm trying to see if I can match up Marenkov's numbers with some mapping co-ordinates."

Lily rolled her eyes. "We tried that, remember. I didn't do any good."

Patrick looked at her. "It didn't do any good on the new mapping system, but what if that's not the one Marenkov was going by?"

"The Russians have the same mapping system we do."

Patrick sighed again. "The Russian government has the same mapping system, but Marenkov left them years ago. I'll bet a lot of his equipment wasn't state of the art."

Lily folded her arms. "Well, you're certainly thinking outside the box today, aren't you Patrick?" She asked, sarcastically.

Patrick stood up and glared at her. "Okay, you know what? I never asked you to check out what we were doing, and I'm still not sorry we did it."

"Yeah, that attitude's really gonna help you last around here." She sneered.

Patrick steeled himself. "I don't need you to worry about my career, Lily." He whispered harshly. "Now maybe helping Matt see Bauer might turn out to be a mistake, and if it is, I'll own up to that. But even if that's the case, it was still my mistake to make!" He sat back down when he saw Michelle glance over at them.

Patrick turned his gaze back to the screen. "I got something! It's a bank just outside the city, in Ganton!"

Patrick looked up and was surprised to see George, Tony, and even Matt rushing over towards him. Nice timing, Matt. He thought.

Patrick looked back at the screen for an address as he heard George call to get a chopper ready.

Paxton looked at the address on the computer screen and grinned, before looking up at Willem and the still-shaken Alexi. "Everything looks fine on this end." He stood up and started towards the door. "Let's go find our bomb."

6:59:57 . . . 6:59:58 . . . 6:59:59 . . . 7:00:00 . . .

NEXT: As the race to beat Paxton and Alexi to the bomb continues, Matt and Tony debate giving Galina a chance to redeem herself while Alexi remains suspicious of Paxton, despite his assurances, causing him to consider taking drastic steps.