Okay, here is part 3. It takes place 5-10 minutes after the last part. These scenes are designed to follow the real-time format, but you have to assume that some scenes happen in between (CTU doing their jobs, terrorists plotting, the president and her staff, etc). I'm writing this sort of generically so it can fit with any terrorist plot they come up with for season 8. Thanks for all the reviews…keep them coming and I will try to keep the scenes coming :)

Jack and Renee are riding in a helicopter to the prison when Jack's phone rings.

"This is Bauer," Jack answers.

"Jack, it's Chloe."

"Chloe, what did you find?"

"It looks like even though Tony lied about Cardiff being dead, he was telling the truth when he said that Cardiff had a direct line to the Juma regime and was involved in the planning of the White House attack. He was picked up by Border Patrol a few hours after the attack when he was trying to sneak into Canada, but the vehicle that was transporting him to the FBI headquarters in upstate New York near the border was ambushed and the two agents transporting him were killed. At the time they thought Cardiff was killed too, but now it looks like he just escaped and started using another alias."

"Did Tony have anything to do with him escaping?"

"It doesn't look like it," Chloe answers. "The ambush happened after Tony was taken into custody. And so far, other than the fact that he worked with Cardiff on Emerson's crew, I couldn't find anything linking Tony to the shooting at the UN or the incident in the tunnel. Unless he managed to cover his tracks completely I don't think he had anything to do with this."

"You haven't found anything linking Wilson's group to today's events either, right?"

"No. Also, I found something weird in Cardiff's bio. It looks like information was deleted from his file sometime within the last two months…I can't seem to find a way to retrieve the missing info, but I can tell from the missing file headers that something is missing."

"Alright, that makes sense. Whoever is behind today's attacks probably found a way to get Cardiff out because he knew too much. We need to figure out who had access who could have modified Cardiff's file…we may have a leak in CTU."

"Could be. Or it could be that it took a while after CTU was reopened to get them to invest in a firewall with DES encryption."

"What are you saying? That in between that time someone could have hacked in?" Jack asks, concerned.

"Yeah, it's possible. I couldn't believe how vulnerable the system was when I first started at CTU NY."

Jack sighs, frustrated. "Is there anything about Cardiff in the information Tony gave us after he was arrested?" he asks.

"No, not beyond what he had already told us about Cardiff's connection to Juma. But most of the questions Tony answered were about Wilson and the group he was tracking. They didn't ask him much about Cardiff or anyone else on Emerson's crew."

"Damn it," Jack says, exasperated. He knew he should have handled Tony's questioning himself instead of letting Renee convince him it was better to let the FBI handle it.

"I wonder if this means Tony knew the White House was the target," Chloe muses.

"No, I don't think so," Jack answers. "His goal at that point was to stop Hodges, and by extension Juma and Dubaku. If he knew the target he would have told me."

"Good. Because that would mean it was his fault Bill's dead. I mean, I know he's responsible for a lot of other people's deaths, but somehow I feel like it would be worse if he were responsible for Bill...does that make any sense?"

"Yeah, it does," Jack says sympathetically. "Listen, Chloe, can you put Brian on the phone?"

"Um, yeah, let me transfer you."

Renee looks at Jack curiously. Jack doesn't tell her anything.

"Hastings," Brian says on the other end of the line.

"Brian, it's Jack. Listen, I need you to speak to the President. I need you to get Tony a written guarantee of immunity from further prosecution for anything he gives us on Cardiff."

He glances cautiously at Renee, who gives him a disgusted look.

"I don't know, Jack," Brian says warily. "You already got him a pretty good deal…I don't think the president's going to agree to this even if I was willing to ask."

"Damn it, Brian, I'm not asking for her to reduce his sentence. I just need him to be able to cooperate, and he can't do that if he has to worry that he could say something that could void the agreement he made."

"Even if we do that, he's got no incentive to talk unless we offer him something."

"Let me handle that," Jack insists. "Please, just call the President, or put me in touch and I'll talk to her myself."

"I'll take care of it," Brian agrees.

"Thank you. Let me know when it's done, and have a copy faxed to the prison for my eyes only."

"Alright," Brian agrees.

Jack hangs up and looks at Renee, who is looking out the window trying not to let Jack see her anger. She knows Jack did what was necessary, but she still can't bring herself to fully trust him on this.

"You alright?" Jack asks.

"I'm fine," she insists.

"You don't look fine. I don't blame you for being upset, but you know we have to do it this way. I think I can get Tony to cooperate but not if he has to worry about jeopardizing the deal he made."

"I understand that, Jack. But what happens if he doesn't cooperate? Are you going to ask the president to give him an incentive?"

"I don't know," Jack admits. "We'll cross that bridge if we come to it. But I don't think it will come to that. I got through to him six months ago and I think I can get through to him now."

"Come on, Jack. Are you really naive enough to believe that you convinced him to do the right thing? I don't know exactly what happened when you spoke to him, but from where I'm sitting, it looks like you let him manipulate you into helping him cut a deal."

Jack sighs. He considers correcting her, but he realizes that she wouldn't like the truth any better than her own interpretation. And for all he knows, she could be partially right.

"I understand that's how it looked, but it's more complicated than that," he says softly.

"So now what? You really think you can convince him to tell us whatever he knows about Cardiff out of the goodness of his heart?" she asks sarcastically.

"Maybe," Jack says softly. "I don't want to sound like I'm in any way justifying what he did because I'm not. But I know that he didn't set out to kill innocent people. When he set out to go after Wilson, I don't think he ever intended to go as far as he did. When I spoke to him six months ago, he wouldn't come out and say it, but I could tell that he had some regrets. He was on a mission and he got obsessed…once he was forced to step back I think he started to see the bigger picture. I know you think that I helped him negotiate for more than he deserved…"

"It's not a question of what I think, Jack," Renee cuts him off. "You convinced the US Attorney to charge him with second-degree murder of two federal agents when he helped orchestrate the murder of over 20 and attempted to launch a biological attack on the DC Metro."

"He had information that we needed," Jack insists. "Information that helped lead to the conviction of a man who had killed thousands of Americans and was plotting to kill tens of thousands more. Besides, you admitted that you didn't have enough evidence to convict him for most of that."

"I understand that it was necessary," Renee says bitterly, staring out the window as she blinks back tears. "That doesn't make it any easier to swallow."

"I know," Jack says sympathetically, understanding better than anyone can. "Believe me, I know that."

"Do you, Jack?" Renee mutters under her breath.

"Excuse me?" Jack says warily, not liking where this is going.

"Come on, Jack. I know that he was your friend, that you considered him almost like a little brother. I don't doubt that you did what you thought was best for the country, but I couldn't help but feel like you were protecting him."

"He lost his family because of me," Jack says defensively, inadvertently acknowledging that Renee may be right.

"I understand that, Jack," Renee says with exasperation. "Nobody disagrees that what happened to him was a tragedy. But what about all the families he destroyed? What about all the husbands and fathers he had his associate lure into a building wired with C4? What about the FBI agent he shot point blank whose wife had just given birth to a son? Doesn't it bother you that that kid is going to have to grow up without ever knowing his father?"

Jack looks at her angrily, his look saying "who the hell do you think you are to preach to me about what it's like to lose a member of my family?" Renee realizes she crossed the line and looks at Jack apologetically.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean…" she says hesitantly, waiting anxiously as he seems to process and struggle to control his anger. After a minute he gets his emotions under control and brings himself to look at her. "I know that I don't need to tell you what it's like to lose a family member…I guess I have no right to judge you," she says apologetically.

"No, it's alright. I understand why you're upset, believe me. I know it doesn't seem fair and it's not, but Tony's still going to pay a price. Ten years is a long time."

"Not long enough," Renee says bitterly.

"I know," Jack says sympathetically, but Renee can't help but feel like he is just saying what she wants to hear. She looks at him skeptically, knowing that in his heart he laments what happened to Tony more than he laments the injustice of his abridged punishment. She can tell that deep down he wonders if there's anything he could have done to save Tony from himself and that part of him hopes that somehow he still can.

This has been a source of frustration for Renee since Jack got involved with Tony's case and insisted on trying to convince Tony to cooperate with the FBI's efforts to convict Alan Wilson. She knows Jack is conflicted about what Tony deserves despite his assurances to the contrary, and sometimes she can't help but think that in spite of everything Jack still views Tony as the victim and is still looking out for his old friend. It bothers her to think that Jack might sympathize with the man who murdered her partner, and it's been especially frustrating since she and Jack started seeing each other. She wants Jack to see Tony the way she sees him - as a cold, heartless monster who murdered innocent people without any regard and would do it again in a heartbeat if given the chance. She understands why Jack can't bring himself to accept that, and deep down she knows it might not even be entirely true. But she can't help but feel betrayed by Jack's ambivalence and question whether Jack is really on her side. She just hopes the decisions they have to make today won't drive them apart again.

If you have a minute please let me know what you think. I welcome honest suggestions, so don't be shy. Tony will probably be in the next scene after this one, so stay tuned.