The alarm clock blares at exactly 6am on a cool, damp fall morning in Los Angeles. Tony Almeida rises quickly and notices that his wife, Michelle Dessler, is not lying next to him. A slight hangover from the previous night's engagement party has left him slightly disoriented, but he realizes that his work day at CTU headquarters will begin shortly and that he really should get up.
Tony stumbles to the kitchen in the flat that he and Michelle rent on a quiet, tree-lined street. They're particularly lucky because their landlord allows pets; their German Shepherd, Samson, is lying calmly next to the kitchen chair that Michelle currently occupies while reading the Los Angeles Times.
"They still haven't found Logan," Michelle says.
"That sonofaBITCH. He's so conniving, it's not a surprise that he escaped a week before his trial," Tony responds vehemently.
Michelle and Tony are referring to the current situation plaguing the Los Angeles area. Former president Charles Logan, who was arrested several months earlier for being involved in David Palmer's assassination and other terrorist acts, escaped from prison the previous day. At first, CTU's main goal wasn't geared towards finding Logan, due to other, more pressing issues, such as high security alerts issued by the Department of Defense. The DOD had intercepted possible terrorist activity occurring in Yucca County, Navada, only a few miles from Las Vegas. There, a nuclear waste dump has recently been opened, and the terror alert has kept CTU's agents quite busy as they attempt to find the terrorists before any plans they have are able to cause major damage to American citizens. All this has kept CTU from being involved in the interception of Logan. The FBI has been leading the search, but Michelle and Tony both realize that CTU might need to intervene if Logan remains at large for more than a few days. CTU will want to ensure that terrorists do not aid Logan in his escape. This situation would be highly detrimental to America as Logan has acute knowledge of the inner workings of the government and the military that he could use at the country's expense.
"Jack must be fuming," moans Tony.
"Well, he probably regrets staying at that party last night. I'm sure he would've rather been at CTU getting work done," replies Michelle.
"He had no choice. He knew how much it meant to Audrey that he be at the party the whole time. Plus, after Henderson almost killed Audrey a few months ago, he'd never miss something that meant so much to her," Tony asserts.
Michelle sighs and nods in agreement. She gets up, clears the table, and pours Tony's cup of coffee before cleaning out the pot.
"Do you want to go to work together?" Michelle asks.
"Yeah…okay…sure. It won't take me long to get ready," Tony replies.
"No rush, I still have to shower."
Michelle leaves the kitchen and Samson follows her until Tony calls for him.
"Samson, come here. Do you really need to follow her wherever she goes?" Tony asks.
Meanwhile, at CTU, employees trickle in to begin their day. Chloe is among these people, and she sulks to her desk, like usual, smiling awkwardly at familiar faces as she passes them. She has been quite busy lately; she's organizing the building of a small memorial to honor Edgar, her former friend and colleague, who was killed by nerve gas several months ago after terrorists attacked CTU headquarters. Chloe's guilt lately has been immeasurable, and she finds that spending time working on Edgar's memorial and the service that will precede the unveiling of this small monument, is aiding her in her mourning process. She can clearly remember a few months back when the shock of Edgar's death, which she witnessed painfully, had numbed her senses and nearly made her incapable of finishing her work tasks, which were essential at the time, because terrorists were planning on releasing more nerve gas into Los Angeles, threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. When she thinks of that tragic day, she always brings herself back to the last moment when she saw Edgar. She wishes that she had somehow been nicer to him that day. She doesn't remember the last thing she said to him exactly, but she does know that it wasn't anything particularly sentimental. Once Chloe reaches her desk, she sits down, turns on her computer, and calls Bill Buchanan's extension.
"Bill Buchanan."
"Hi, it's me. I just got here and…I want to know if there's a place where we can talk in private," Chloe says.
"Well, just come to my office," Bill responds.
"Right. Duh," replies Chloe.
Chloe leaves her station and goes up to Bill's office. Bill is the head of CTU again after Karen Hayes from Homeland Security took over his position a few months earlier when CTU was attacked with nerve gas and lost a greater part of its staff. Bill re-claimed his position shortly after.
Meanwhile, Jack Bauer and Audrey Raines wake up. They were both up late the night before celebrating their engagement with their family and friends so they decided to sleep in. As uncharacteristic as this is for Jack, he realizes that his entire life cannot be devoted to work anymore, especially since he and Audrey plan to marry soon. He remembers how field work put a major strain on his marriage to his dead wife, Terry, and how he no longer talks to his daughter Kim. Jack and Audrey want to get to work, so they skip breakfast and dress quickly.
"Are you going to CTU today?" Audrey asks.
"I don't think so. I have a really bad feeling about Logan and I want to make sure he doesn't get away with those terrorists. I know he must be in touch with them and if they get to him before we do I don--"
Audrey interrupts him.
"I know. I know. I don't want to think about it, either. Maybe…maybe I'll come with you today," Audrey suggests.
"You can't. You shouldn't. Please don't. It might get dangerous. And, as of right now, I don't even know where I'm going. I need to call Curtis before I leave because he's been working hard trying to find Logan. He'll know where to go," Jack explains.
"Wow, Jack. For the first time in your life, you're not the one in charge; it's weird to see," Audrey admits.
Jack kisses Audrey's forehead.
"It's because I love you and I've learned from my mistakes. Work isn't going to be here for me when I'm old and unable to fight off 10 terrorists at once. But you will," Jack confesses.
Audrey laughs.
"Ten terrorists? Damn," Audrey jokes.
"Yeah, well, I don't even think I can keep up with that many anymore. We'll see," Jack says.
Jack grabs his phone, keys, and duffle bag full of necessities. He always brings it with him to work just incase he winds up working through the night, which happens quite often.
"All right, I'm off. Call me later," Jack says.
"Okay. Bye. I love you. And be careful!" Audrey replies.
"You have my word. I'll talk to you later," Jack assures her.
They kiss quickly and Jack rushes out. He calls Curtis.
"Hi Jack."
"Hi. So tell me, anything new going on with Logan's interception?" Jack asks.
"Well, no. But we do have some credible leads," he responds.
"I'm going to meet you where you are. Or is there a lead I can follow?" Jack asks.
"Well, come meet me and then we can check things out together. My field team isn't too big right now," Curtis suggests.
"Okay, where are you?" Jack asks.
"On 237 Lombard St. across from the Starbucks," Curtis explains.
"I'll be there in 15 minutes," Jack asserts.
At CTU Bill and Chloe are making out fiercely in Bill's office. A few months earlier, when Chloe needed a place to hide while she was aiding Jack against CTU orders, she went to Bill's house, and while they were there, although they were very stressed out and busy trying to help Jack, they bonded and got along very well. After that, they began going out, and now they're dating seriously. No one at work knows about this, and because Chloe acts awkward around everyone, no one thinks twice when she acts strangely around Bill, trying too hard not to give away their relationship. They don't stop kissing until they hear the blaring of Bill's office phone (they hear the famous CTU ring, of course), which makes them both jump. Bill answers and is out of breath.
"Bill---Buchanan…….Yes. Yes, that's-----fine………I'm feeling----very well. I was just cleaning up----a bit……..Oh yes, my---office is terribly messy (he catches his breath)…..Okay I'll talk to you later."
He hangs up.
"Close one," Chloe jokes.
"Maybe your idea of finding somewhere else to talk in private was probably a good idea," Bill admits.
"It's okay. Next time. Well, I'd better get back to work," Chloe says.
"Wait, Chloe…could you call Curtis? Find out if he needs help with Logan," Bill suggests.
"Sure. Call me when you're about to get lunch," Chloe says.
"Of course," Bill responds.
Chloe walks out of Bill's office more confidently than usual. She rushes down the stairs to her desk where she calls Curtis.
"This is Curtis."
"It's Chloe. Umm…Bill asked me to call you. He said you umm…needed help finding Logan, maybe?"
"Hi Chloe. Jack is on his way here right now. When he gets here and we decide our course of action, we'll call you back," Curtis explains.
"Okay. I'll keep working on those profiles and umm…phone logs. Hopefully I can find a record of Logan calling one of the umm…terrorists," Chloe says.
"Yes, that's good. I'll get back to you."
They both hang up. Curtis sees Jack's car pull up. Jack speeds into a spot, quickly shuts off the car, and hops out.
"Hi Curtis, so what have we got?" Jack asks.
"Well, it seems that a man named Najid Yazd was one of Logan's phone calls from prison, and the guy visited Logan twice there," Curtis explains.
"Do we have an address?" Jack asks.
"We have three, actually," Curtis admits.
"Let's call Chloe. She can trace all three and find out which one is the actual match," Jack proposes.
"Okay," Curtis agrees.
Jack calls Chloe and asks her to look up the addresses and find out which ones are legitimate. She says two of the three seem to be good.
Once Jack is off the phone, he and Curtis load the equipment into the CTU van,
get the field team together, and speed to the first of the two addresses in
hopes of finding some kind of information that will help them get closer to finding
Logan.