7.01: 8:00am - 9:00am - Whole New Beginning

7.01: 8:00a.m. - 9:00a.m.

~Whole New Beginnig ~
2009.01.11

8:00

Events Occur in Real Time

The first thing we see is the White House with Kiefer Sutherland’s name on the screen

A man, Michael Latham, drives his vehicle with his pre-teen daughter, Emily, in the back seat. He checks the rear view and tells her to put the cell phone away that she is intently working on. She asks for one more minute but Dad reminds her she said that 5 minutes ago. He wants her to put it away, it’s for emergencies. She claims it is an emergency but she puts it away anyway. Her Dad’s phone rings and she whines that it’s not fair he gets to use the phone and she can’t. Dad enlightens her that life is not fair. Latham answers the phone but says hello repeatedly finding no one on the other end. Meanwhile, a black 15 passenger style van with no back windows rams directly into the side of their vehicle. Once things have come to a grinding stop the car the Latham’s are in stalls. He calls to Emily and asks if she is okay. She nods that she is fine. Instantly, another black van speeds up behind Latham and hits them with such force they end up on top of a car in front of them.

Outside, men have disembarked out of the back of the black van and are taking over the street. One gets on top of a cab and shoots his automatic weapon into the air, scattering the civilians. The men are all dressed to match their vehicle with black balaclavas as well. Latham is cut from the car by someone the fans with a history will recognize. Latham calls to Emily as he is dragged to the back of a black van. She sounds fine as she screams back. The black vans load back up and leave together.

In the back, Latham is scared and bloodied. He begs them not to hurt his daughter. The voice of Tony Almeida assures him that they don’t want his money, they need him to fix something for them.

An SUV pulls up to the courthouse and Renee Walker and another FBI agent get out and head inside.

Senator Blaine Meyer (or so his name plate states), calls to order the third day of the senate hearing of human rights violations by the recently disbanded Counter Terrorist Unit. Yesterday they looked at the use of brutality and torture by CTU agents during investigations. Meyer calls the witness to state his name. The camera swings around to a table across from the large table at the front of the room to a smaller table with one man seated at it. “Jack Bauer” is the answer from the man sitting at it. Jack is clean shaven and dressed in a suit and tie. Behind Jack there is a room full of people, including press. Meyer observes that Mr. Bauer has no council and asks if he or she is not aware that they are about to start. Jack toys with a pen and tells Meyer he has chosen not to retain council. Meyer advises him that many of these questions will be of a legal nature and they might result in answers that will incriminate him. Jack understands. Meyer offers to postpone to this afternoon but Jack gets right to the point asking for the first question. Meyer leans in, checks with his comrades at the front table and wants to begin. Jack also leans in continuing to bounce his pen off the pad of paper in front of him. Meyer asks “Who is Ibraham Hadad?” Jack scowls answering, “That information is classified.” Meyer represents the people of the United States and these files have been declassified, he asks Jack one more time who Ibraham Hadad is. Jack looks down quickly and then answers that he was part of a terrorist sleeper cell that CTU had under surveillance in 2002. Meyer gets right to the point and asks if it’s true that Jack detained Mr. Hadad without due process and used extreme interrogation methods on him until he answered his questions. “Yes, sir.” Jack answers. Meyer wants to know if Jack broke procedure. “Probably.” Meyer echoes Jack’s answer and observes that, ‘That’s a very cavalier answer, Mr. Bauer, it seems you don’t care about the implications.’ Jack simply watches Meyer who asks, ‘Well, Mr. Bauer?’ Jack answers, “I’m sorry, Senator, I didn’t hear a question.” Meyer rephrases, “Did you torture Mr. Hadad?” Jack looks only slightly uncomfortable as he says, “According to the definition set forth by the Geneva Convention, yes, I did.” Jack continues that he wants to save Meyer some time. It is obvious to Jack that his agenda is to discredit CTU and generate a series of indictments. Meyer claims he is after the truth but Jack doesn’t agree. Jack explains that Hadad had targeted a bus carrying 45 people, 10 of which were children. The truth is Jack stopped that attack from happening. Meyer spouts, “By torturing Mr. Hadad.” Jack clarifies, ‘By doing what I deemed necessary to protect innocent life.’ Meyer wants to know if what Jack is saying is that ends justify the means and that he is above the law. Jack speaks clearly but passionately, ‘When I am activated, when I am brought into a situation there is a reason, that reason is to complete the objectives of the mission at all costs.’ Meyer asks if that includes breaking the law. Jack tries a different explanation, ‘To a combat soldier, the difference between success and failure is the ability to adapt to your enemy. These people don’t care about your rules, they care about a result. My job is to stop them from accomplishing their objective. I simply adapted. And in answer your question, am I above the law, no sir. I am more than willing to be judged by the people you claim to represent. Let them decide but please, don’t sit there with that smug look on your face and expect me to regret the decisions that I have made. Because the truth is, I don’t.’

One of the guards leans forward and whispers to Meyer. Renee walks forward into the room and goes right to Meyer as Jack watches puzzled. Meyer puts his hand over the mic as it feeds back and she ID’s herself handing over a file. She has a subpoena for Jack Bauer and she needs him remanded into her custody. It is unclear how much Jack can hear of the exchange but he tries intently to listen. Meyer wits, “I’m not surprised that anyone has a subpoena for Mr. Bauer but you’ll have to wait.” She needs Jack immediately and points out something in the file. He peruses the file and relents. Meyer addresses Jack saying that he is going to have to let him go for now, but he is not finished with Jack. ‘We will reconvene tomorrow at the same time, do you understand?” Jack does and Meyer dismisses him to “Go along with these agents.” Jack grabs his coat, briefcase and things from the table and silently follows the agents out. Meyer has the bailiff call the next witness.

Jack and the agents are hardly out of the courtroom when Jack asks what this is about. Renee introduces herself and agent Taylor and tells Jack that they are going to their office, it’s around the block. Again, Jack asks why. Renee dismisses that Jack will be briefed when they get there as she dials her cell phone. A woman named Janice picks up at the FBI office. She says that Larry is briefing Dornan’s group and Renee lets her know they have Bauer and they are on the way. Janice updates her that the crew they were tracking just grabbed Michael Latham. The name rings a bell for Renee, he worked on the Homeland Firewall project. Janice corrects that he designed it; he was the chief engineer of the government security system.

After hanging up the phone, Janice gets up and heads over to a man named Sean who is working nearby. She asks him if he got Jack Bauer cleared, they are a couple of minutes out. Sean mumbles back that he has a couple of minutes then. Janice wants to give Sean some advice as a friend. Sean clarifies that she is not his friend. She continues that as someone as close to a friend that he is ever going to get, most people don’t like sarcasm, “I myself have no problem with it because I’m cheerful, I’m a cheerful person.” He looks up at her with scepticism, “You’re cheerful?” She tells him to get Bauer cleared and leaves.

Larry Moss briefs a team about what has been happening. For the past 8 weeks they have been investigating a series of technology thefts by the same crew. They didn’t know the end game until now. He pulls up a file on Latham on the touch screen and explains that he was the chief engineer on Homelands Firewall project. He was abducted about 10 minutes ago by the same crew they have been tracking. They can expect that he has been forced to work on a device or he is dead. Larry tells the agent that must be Dornan to task his people to help this investigation, Sean has the packets.

A man working with Tony who looks somewhat like him and sounds a lot like him tells another thug they are on line with GSA-117 with communication and navigation systems but they need the others. He tells the thug to check on Latham. Tony is nowhere in sight.

A bloodied and dishevelled Latham works on a circuit board type of object. His glasses have been taped together and there is blood on his shirt and face. He takes off his glasses and announces that it’s done. The thug takes it.

A plane prepares for take off heading to JFK. The pilots run the pre-flight check and speak to the air traffic control center confirming their flight information. We see quick camera shots of people on the plane including children. The stewardess picks up the P.A. and welcomes the passengers to their flight.

The Tony-alike can see on his monitor the plane starting to move and hear the communication with Air Traffic Control.

Jack, Renee and Agent Taylor enter the Field Office of the Washington FBI. As soon as they get off the elevator Agent Larry Moss introduces himself to Jack as the head of this office. He explains that Jack is there because Agent Walker thinks Jack might be able to help them. Moss tells Jack that he has his doubts but he is happy to be proven wrong. Jack doesn’t seem to care about this and answers, ‘Good thing I’m not here to apply for a job, I don’t care what you think. Let’s just get this over with.’ Taylor is ordered to take Jack to Renee’s office and she is left alone with Moss as Jack is led through the cubicles. People look at him and he glances around, taking it all in. Moss asks Renee if she wants him in the room with her. Renee declines and Larry says she has read his file, if she says the wrong thing, Bauer can go off. Renee dismisses him, she will be fine. To comfort Larry she says ‘If he goes off, I’ll call you.’ He tells her retreating back that if Bauer doesn’t produce, don’t waste time, throw him back.

Jack waits in Renee’s office and as soon as she walks in he asks her what she wants. She starts right away, there is a national security crisis that has gone critical and she is hoping that Jack can help her with it. She asks Jack to sit, Jack continues to stand there. Outside her office, Moss watches them interact. Janice comes over and says she sent the files to Homeland. Larry doesn’t respond but continues to stare into Renee’s office. She asks if there is anything else he needs her to do. He finally answers no. Janice wants to know if Bauer has been indicted yet, Moss says not until after the senate hearings.

Renee explains to Jack that the CIP firewall protects every major telecommunication link in this country. If it was breached, telecommunications, power grids would all be vulnerable. Jack just listens and rubs the palm of one hand with the other. Finally, Jack speaks, “Agent Walker, right?’ Renee nods, Jack continues, ‘I’m not active, the DOJ is about to file criminal charges against me, I’m not in a position to help you with your situation, as much as I understand how dire it is.’ Renee cuts across Jack saying she doesn’t think he does understand. One of the men behind this threat is someone Jack knows. Renee puts a laptop down in front of Jack as an image cleans itself in the centre. The largest window slowly renders the face of Tony Almeida. Jack gapes in disbelief at what he is seeing and now takes a seat. Quietly, Jack tells Renee, ‘That’s not possible. Tony Almeida’s dead.’ Casually, Renee says, ‘Apparently not.’ Frustrated, Jack answers, “I was there when he died.” Renee finishes that his body was rushed away by EMT’s a minute later and Jack never saw him after that and hours later Jack was abducted by the Chinese government. Jack continues to stare at the computer, working this through. Finally, he tells Renee, “No, no, if Tony was alive, I’d know, he would have contacted me.” Renee received the image from a security camera where a technology theft took place; it is time and date stamped. She hands Jack a print out of Tony’s face. “Images can be manipulated.” Renee says, “Not this one.” Jack is clearly shaken and not sure what to do. He stands up saying, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t believe it.’ Jack gathers his things and heads to the door. He turns his back to Renee when she calls out, ‘I had Almeida’s grave exhumed.’ This gets Jack’s attention and he turns back to face Renee again. ‘DNA tests confirm it was not his body that was buried.’ She has re-captured Jack’s interest and she holds out the photo telling Jack that the evidence is right there, if Jack wants to leave without looking at it, he can go ahead. Jack takes a couple of steps toward Renee and snags the photo of Tony from her. Jack stares at it as he plops down in the chair again.

Tony appears out of the darkness looking particularly dark and sinister himself. “Masters!” He barks. Tony-alike answers, “Yes sir.” Tony asks if they are in their system. Masters says yes. The other thug hands his head set over to Tony with the background of evil music.

We see the plane heading down the runway, the pilots and the passengers. It lifts off.

Masters takes the headset off his head and Tony calmly asks what the problem is. The CIP module has stopped working, it keeps going out of phase. Tony thought Latham said it was good to go as he scratches his face in the old fashioned way. Tony asks for the module and Masters unplugs it and hands it over. Tony takes it to the next room and drops it down in front of Latham. Tony steps back and asks what Latham did. Latham swears he didn’t do anything. Tony wants to know why it’s not working, Latham doesn’t know. “Fix it. Now.” Tony snaps. Latham shoves his broken glasses back on and starts to analyze the problem. Tony leans in and whispers, “You’re gonna wanna move faster than that because if you can’t make this work in the next few minutes, I won’t need you anymore. Do you understand what that means?” Latham nods. “Good, now fix it.”

8:17

8:21

The President and Ethan Kanin watch a newscast on TV discuss what’s going on in Sangala. The reporter says that the US needs to intervene to prevent further bloodshed. Kanin weighs in that they must do something, this is the worst mass murder since Rwanda. Taylor agrees but admits that those reporters who are against taking action will be the same press that will accuse the administration of moral bankruptcy being paralyzed while people are butchered. They have to act, even if it means going alone. Taylor will not have hundreds of thousands of lives on her hands. He has to be stopped. Kanin is ready as soon as she gives the orders. The Joint Chiefs are gathering in the situation room.

The First Husband, Henry, enters and tells the President that Aldridge, a reporter, is going to release a piece against the invasion of Sangala. Henry offers to sit down with him and try and hold him off. Kanin doesn’t really think that this is a good idea but Henry thinks this is the last thing they need, especially with the opinion so split. Kanin goes to answer a phone call and Taylor stands and tells her husband if she thinks he can talk Aldridge down, he should do it. Kanin comes back, the Joint Chiefs are ready. He hands her the briefing package. Kanin gets a head start and Taylor stop next to her husband, holding his hand for a few seconds before following Kanin. She turns before she is out of the room and tells her husband to wish her luck. He does and she smiles.

Secret Service waits outside as she puts on her glasses and walks toward the elevator. The elevator door closes and Kanin takes the time to turn to the President and state that he doesn’t mean to sound like a broken record but he is not sure that her husband is up to handling this. She points out he’s been better but it’s going to take more than a few months, he lost a son. Kanin reminds her that she did too but she has not let it interfere with her job. She walks ahead of Kanin and stops, turning to face him. Kanin admits that her husband is a strong man but he doesn’t have her resilience. She corrects that this is not a matter of resilience. Her voice falters as she says not a day goes by, not a moment when she doesn’t think about her son but she is about to take this nation to war and grief is a luxury she can’t afford right now. She turns and enters the room with the Joint Chiefs. They all jump to their feet and then sit when she does. Before she begins she wants to thank every one of them for their time and work they have put into this operation. Putting American lives at risk is the hardest decision she has ever had to make, but it had to be made.

Latham works on the component as Tony watches. A sound is heard and Tony wants to know what it was. Latham says its working. The problem was it was overheating but he has created a work around. Tony takes the component and shoots a glare at Latham while he walks away.

At the JFK Airport Air Traffic Control a screen fuzzes out for just a second. The man in front of it asks the guy next to him if he saw that. He did, but they are back up now. The third man in their row also saw something but when they ask around, no one else did. A man that must be the boss comes over and asks what’s going on. He explains that he got bumped but there was no power surge. It came from the system kernel. They agree that it’s protected but he brings it up and shows them.

Renee tells Jack that Almeida is part of a home grown terrorist group that they think will be targeting their infrastructure. Jack is sceptical; he thinks Tony might be undercover and part of a sting operation. He needs to check the federal records. Renee has already done this, as well as the state and city records. He is not working for the feds or any other agency. Jack thinks there has to be an explanation but Renee thinks she already has it. Tony’s wife was brutally murdered by a faction inside the government that was led by the President. Jack doesn’t disagree but says that everyone involved in that is either in prison or has been killed. Renee reminds Jack that Logan got a slap on the wrist. He cut a deal and got house arrest on a hundred acre ranch. Jack sums that Renee thinks Tony is looking for justice by attacking the country. Renee says that Tony lost everything and now he is blaming a government that he spent his life serving. Jack looks up at Renee who continues that Jack knows better than she does how that feels, how far a man might go. Jack looks stonily at her and with clipped words tells her, “Not that far. And not Tony Almeida.” Jack knows there must be a logical explanation, there has to be something they are not seeing. Renee offers Jack the opportunity to ask Tony himself if he helps her find him. Jack knows how Tony thinks, they have the same training and know the same people. Jack looks at Tony’s image again and then down at the floor. He wants complete access to their source material, everything they have. Renee’s phone rings and Moss wants to see her outside.

Moss is waiting for Renee when she comes outside of her office and he updates her that North East Air Traffic Control called, they have a possible intrusion in their communication systems. Larry has no source for the disruption but Sean thinks they wouldn’t be getting intrusions like this unless someone is driving it and the only way to do that is by using the CIP firewall. Renee asks if they are going after Air Traffic Control and Sean answers the obvious, that’s what it looks like. Larry, meanwhile, is on the phone asking to be put through to the White House.

On the plane we have been seeing the stewardesses discuss what they will be doing when the plane lands. One of them says she is meeting her boyfriend in New York City. The jet does a little bit of a jump and they both look a little frightened until one reminds the other that they were expecting some turbulence.

Renee now walks Jack out onto the floor of the FBI office. She tells him that she can provide him with some tech support for the files on the thefts. She introduces him to Sean Hillinger saying he will be able to get Jack what he needs. Jack asks if the threat level has been raised and she confirms it has. She tells Jack that they think Tony’s group is going for Air Traffic Control. Jack is puzzled, it doesn’t make sense. Renee tells Jack it’s not his job to make sense of it, they just need him to find Tony. Renee delegates Janice to work on the Air Traffic Control intrusion. Jack tells Sean he wants to see the files on the technology thefts. Sean whines that there are 6 of them. Jack wants to see them all. “Fantastic”, Sean deadpans. Jack sits down.

The Joint Chiefs are meeting and they discuss with the president what kind of resistance they can expect from Juma’s military and what they have set up in the area. They are working on air strikes to take out whatever resistance they have and that will open a path to their front door. All they need is a go order from her. She will give that order once Secretary Stevens hands her his post invasion report, which she is still waiting for. Stevens admits it will be another few minutes. Taylor asks if there is a problem. Stevens tells them all that his objections to this are not a secret to anyone in the room; they are wading into another civil conflict half way around the world. Taylor has little patience and snaps that they are done debating this. She calls him Joe and reminds him that the UN has been issuing reports and embargos while Benjamin Juma has slaughtered over 200 thousand of his own people and those numbers will continue to grow if they don’t stop him now. If he can’t get behind what she is doing she will find a secretary of state who can. She is done with his hand wringing. Kanin tells the President that Tim Watts from Homeland Security is outside and needs to see her on an urgent matter. Taylor would like it to wait but Kanin says it can not. She rises and says she will be back. She wants the report from Joe in front of her when she returns.

Outside, Tim Watts waits. Taylor wants to know what’s going on. Kanin doesn’t have the details to Watts explains again about the technical thefts from the FBI and Latham. He tells her they believe he has been forced to create a device that will hack the CIP firewall. This will give them access to their energy grid, transit and other very important infrastructures. Now, he tells her, the FAA is reporting some irregularities. They discuss if the group is going after commercial flights and Watts thinks that’s possible. Taylor wants to know if she should be grounding air traffic. She is told that it’s not that simple. There are currently 3000 flights over the continental US and it would take 12 hours to bring them all down, and it would create a panic. They recommend that she quietly decrease air traffic while the FBI works their leads. Taylor doesn’t like the timing of this, it’s too convenient with the intervention in Sangala. Watts tells her they have not found a connection yet. The FBI says this is a domestic terror group, they are home-grown with a strong anti-government bias. Taylor wants to know if they will be caught before they cause more damage. Watt tells her the Bureau has everyone on it. “You didn’t answer my question,” the President states. “No, I didn’t” Watt answers.

8:33

8:38

Henry Taylor meets with the reporter, Kevin. They discuss the state of Sangala compared to the rest of the world. Kevin argues that tribal wars are bad all over the world. Henry says that this is not a tribal war, its genocide, and a nation as powerful as theirs must intervene. In order for Kevin not to say anything Henry offers him an exclusive preview of their post invasion plans. Kevin sees right through it and asks if he is trying to bribe him with an exclusive. Kevin wants to know if Henry is asking him to stop writing or to write what he doesn’t believe. As there’s movement at the door Henry smiles, “Either one would be fine with me.” Kevin also smiles and they both chuckle as a Secret Service Agent tells the First Husband that he has a call on a private line. Henry asks to be excused and is told that the person calling is Chuck Tolan. Henry picks up and wants to know if Chuck found something. Chuck found something that doesn’t confirm their theory but it’s suspicious. Henry’s son’s girlfriend came into some money after his son’s suicide. “Alleged” Henry corrects. He wants to know where the money came from. Chuck couldn’t tell, it was washed and had no source. Henry wants to know what that means. It means she suddenly came into 300 thousand dollars. They agree she needs to be spoken to in person. Chuck can handle it but admits that if someone has something to hide they are not going to talk to a PI. Henry will talk to her himself, she is still at Sloan Kitridge Brokerage Firm. They hang up.

After the call Henry tells the Secret Service Agent that when he is finished with Kevin he would like him to take him somewhere but to keep it off the manifest. The agent is hesitant and Henry asks Agent Gates if he thinks Chuck is taking advantage of him. Gates knows that it’s not his place to say. Henry is asking anyway. The Agent answers that the police and the FBI looked into Henry’s son’s death and found nothing and now there’s this lead out of nowhere. Henry stands firm, his son didn’t kill himself. He is sure of it. Gates acknowledges him with a ‘sir’ and Henry leaves.

Janice can’t find anything in Air Traffic Control, she thinks maybe it could have been a glitch. Renee encourages her to keep checking. She wanders away but Janice wants to know what is going to happen. Renee doesn’t understand and Janice clarifies that if Almeida is working the firewall, they are screwed, he could do anything from contaminate the water to take down the power grid. Renee tells her not to think about it. Janice attempts to gather herself and tells herself to stay calm.

Jack sits next to Sean and his tie and his top button are already undone. He asks Sean to pull up the second file again, Sean protests that he already looked at it. Jack wants to see it again as he pulls his tie completely off. He snaps for Sean to pull it up. Sean practically rolls his eyes as Renee shows up and asks if they found anything. Sean tells her no, they are just looking at the same 6 reports over and over again. Jack is onto something as Renee asks what they are looking for. Jack has noticed that they had to have access cards to get into these places but no one reported them stolen. Jack needs Sean to access the old CTU files, from August 1999, operation Handarais. Sean complies but whines that hey could have a 14 dollar an hour data application team do this work. Renee warns him not to advertise that information. Jack finds what he is looking for in the file, the name Gabriel Schecter. He asks Sean to pull his information. Sean does and they see that he arrived in DC 9 weeks ago. Renee connects the dots, that’s 1 week before the attacks started. Larry has also arrived at the station. Jack knows that this is ‘your’ guy. Sean comes up with the address and tells the agents. Moss orders a field team to that location and he will call a judge for a warrant. Jack tells Moss’s retreating back that that is a mistake. Moss turns and asks why. Jack explains that they don’t have time to go through the motions with Schecter and if they serve him with a warrant he will get a lawyer and stall as long as he needs. Moss asks Jack what the alternative is, ‘Break in and torture the guy like you used to do? Isn’t that how you ended up in front of a senate subcommittee?’ Jack stands up and saunters right over to Moss getting close to him but saying nothing. Larry asks sarcastically, ‘Is this how it starts? You get in my face, tighten your jaw and when I say something you don’t like you slam me against a wall.’ Dangerously, Jack answers, ‘You have no idea what I’d do. Last time I checked, you subpoenaed me, you want my help, you want my advice, take it, if you don’t, don’t. I don’t care.’ Jack finishes with a half smile. Renee comes to them and asks Jack how well he knows Schecter. Jack scoffs and, still in Larry’s face, says he knows him. Renee wants to talk to Larry and she takes off away from the others. Moss follows and Renee tells him she wants to take Bauer with her. Moss is not letting him put his hands on a suspect. Renee assures him that he won’t put his hands on anyone, if Bauer is in the room she thinks Schecter will talk. Moss reminds her of what they just saw. Renee needs to find Almeida before it’s too late and this is their best lead. Moss clarifies that she plans to intimidate Schecter by putting Bauer in the room with him. Renee says that Schecter knows how far Bauer might go. Moss asks, ‘And if he doesn’t blink?’ Renee will keep Bauer on a short leash. Moss has reservations, ‘This is the FBI, not CTU, we honour the law, even when it’s not convenient. Renee tries to convince Larry, the President is into this now, she is expecting results. She promises her boss that she can handle Bauer. Moss looks at Jack sitting there and agrees with her on the condition that Bauer is her responsibility and he is going to send back up teams. Renee nods and heads towards Jack. She tells him that he is coming with her but they are going to do this her way. Jack has little reaction but gets up.

8:45

8:49

Renee drives Jack in an unmarked FBI car. She wants him to tell her about Schecter. Jack fills us in that he worked for a defence contractor out of San Diego before he went out on his own. At first he sold on the grey market, usually to foreign governments trying to get treaties. Jack and Tony arrested him and turned him and was a great conduit. Renee asks disbelieving, if CTU didn’t mind that they used him and let him stay in business. Jack explains that CTU didn’t know, Jack and Tony used him off the books. Renee asks if they were tight, Jack and Tony. Jack looks at Renee and then around answering, ‘Yeah, yeah we were close.’ Renee thinks out loud, ‘So Tony, who everyone thinks dead, puts together plan to hijack American security contracts and goes to Schecter as part of the plan.’ Jack answers distantly, ‘Yeah.’ Renee picks up on it, ‘Except you don’t believe it.’ Jack believes that Tony is alive and that he’s doing something dangerous and they need to find him. They pull up to the building and there is already part of an FBI agent. The agent confirms that Schecter is inside, he asks if Renee can handle it. She is going to go in with Bauer to question him. “Alone?” He asks. Renee wants to talk to Schecter and doesn’t want to spook him. The agent will call Renee when the back up gets there.

Taylor speaks with her Secretary of State, Joe, who tells her that the US forces are hidden outside 3 of the camps. Once the air strikes are completed their priority will be to retain order in the streets. He wants to know what will happen when the forces in that country execute Juma without a trial. Taylor is meeting with Mutobo in a few minutes and she will make sure he is in line with that not happening. Taylor apologises to Joe, she was wrong to dress him down in front of the Joint Chiefs. He reminds her that she is under a lot of pressure. Taylor won’t use that as an excuse. Joe thanks her but Taylor cautions that if he can’t get behind her with both shoulders he will need to resign. Kanin comes over and informs the President that Alder will be delaying his story. Taylor asks if this was Henry’s doing, which it was. She then asks for an update on the firewall and is informed that they have identified a man that may have some information. The FBI is questioning him.

Jack and Renee are inside the building and Jack warns Renee that he will more than likely not talk to them easily. Renee reminds Jack that they are with the FBI, they work within the confines of the law. Jack can threaten him but he is not allowed to lay a hand on him. If he crosses that line, Renee will pull him back. Jack understands. They knock on the door and a thug answers. Renee says she is from the FBI and she needs to talk to Gabriel Schecter. The thug closes the door and leaves. Jack looks up at the ceiling before the door opens again. Gabriel comes to the door asking if he can help them. His scarred face brightens when he sees Jack standing there. ‘Jack Bauer’, he muses. Jack rubs his hand and greets Gabe. “I didn’t know you were FBI” Gabe observes in his accent. Lightly, Jack answers he’s not, he just came along for the ride. Renee pipes up that Bauer is here under her authority. Gabe concludes that anything he does while he is there she is responsible for. Gabe has a witness and motions at his thug using the phone in his hand. Renee offers a ‘sure’ so Gabe invites them in. Gabe sits on a leather couch while Jack and Renee take up spots in two arm chairs facing him. Gabe gets comfortable leaning back, “Well, well, well, this should be interesting.” He tries to get Jack talking asking how long it’s been and how the senate thing is doing. ‘I hear they dismantled CTU, don’t tell me, it was your fault, wasn’t it?’ Renee speaks before Jack can respond telling Schecter that they are not there for small talk, she has some questions. Like a real smartass, he says that she has his undivided attention. Renee gets right to it, asking where Tony Almeida is. Gabe seems to think this is a joke and repeats the name and then says, ‘In the ground, I suppose, unless he was cremated. Didn’t he die in CTU a while back?’ He looks to Jack. Jack leans forward and looks at the ground briefly before telling Gabe he has an out here, they are not after him, he doesn’t know what Tony Almeida did with what he helped him steal. Gabe hasn’t stolen anything and if he did he knew nothing about what was happening. Renee tells Gabe that this is more serious than he knows. He will either be kept in the clear or be charged as a co-conspirator in multiple terrorist attacks. Gabe has heard enough, he thinks this conversation is over. He tried to answer their questions honestly but from now on they can speak to his lawyer. He tells them goodbye and tells Jack, ‘And good luck with the Senate hearing, I hope they fry your ass.’ Gabe asks Harry to show them to the door. Jack asks if he is sure this is how he wants to play this. As the thug gets close to Renee and grabs her arm, she resists. She then takes the chance to hit him so he double over and his gun goes flying. Meanwhile, Schecter has pulled a gun out from under the couch cushion and Jack draws his in return. He doesn’t get the gun up before Jack yells for him to drop it and Renee also has hers trained on him. Schecter, scared, slowly puts the gun down and Jack tells him that they are going to have this conversation again. He asks where Tony Almeida is. Schecter is not talking to Jack. Jack gets closer and asks again where Tony is. Schecter stands by that he is dead. Jack is right on top of Gabe now and turns to Renee asking what she wants him to do, this is her call. She tells him to do whatever it takes. Jack looks at her as Gabe pleads that they can’t do this to him. Menacing, Jack says he is going to enjoy this. He grabs a pen from the table and turns Gabe’s head going for the temple. Quickly, Gabe agrees to tell Jack what he knows, ‘There’s no need to lose my good looks over this.’ Jack backs off and Gabe starts the sentence, ‘The last time I saw Tony Almeida-‘ but he doesn’t get the sentence out before shots ring out through the windows killing Gabe and his bodyguard, Harry. Jack and Renee take cover between the glass and Jack asks if she is okay. She is and Jack catches a glimpse of the man doing the shooting. He instructs her to call her people and tell them they have a shooter on the Columbia Building headed south. She gives the info into her walkie and asks for the exits to be sealed.

Gabe’s phone rings and Jack, of course, answers it with a ‘Yeah.’ The voice on the other end is one he knows as Tony tells him, ‘Get away from this Jack.’ Shocked Jack asks, ‘Tony?’ Almeida answers, ‘There’s nothing you or the FBI can do about this so stay away.’ Jack wants Tony to talk to him, tell him the hell is going on. Tony hangs up as Jack repeats his name into the receiver.

Jack gets boxed into a split screen we see Tony looking pretty unhappy, Renee watching and then the First Husband and his secret service, the President getting briefed and Moss.

The flight we have been following GSA 117 gives its flight information to JFK airport and they are starting their descent. Air Traffic Control tells them to descend to 2000 and head for runway 4 right. They get no response. The controller wants a read back but still gets nothing. Another controller looks on and they call the boss, Paulson, over. He explains that he has lost com with GSA 117. He tried the emergency channel and got nothing. It’s not on his board and he tried a redirect twice. There is something interfering with the com. Paulson is going to call back the FBI. He does and says that they have an aircraft that is no longer under their control.

Tony is working from his room and his double is there as well. Tony speaks to the missing flight and gives the flight instructions. He tells them there will be some turbulence but they will have a smoother ride down lower. The pilots acknowledge. Tony takes off his headset and tells the other man to get ready to make the course change. ‘We’re really taking this all the way?’ Dangerously, Tony advises him, ‘You just need to do exactly what I tell you to do.

9:00

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

- Just SEEING that logo work its way onto my screen puts a giant smile on my face. The thought that this will only last 17 minutes or so quickly wipes it off.

-Why, like ‘Redemption’, do “Events occur in real time”? We haven’t had that since the commercial free episode premieres. Although, technically they really do occur in real time since they account for the time during the commercials…but that’s a whole other rant.

-Well, they established us in DC quickly, like, in the very first frame. Just in case we didn’t see a single trailer over the last year and a half or something.

-Who gives their teenager a cell phone telling them it’s “for emergencies only”? Those things are glued to their fingers.

-I’d like to hear what young daughter Latham would quantify as an ‘emergency’. Too bad we didn’t get an explanation.

-Dad pays the bills, thus, he gets to use his phone or her phone whenever he wants.

-Emily gets 10 points for listening to her father. She’s already one up on Kim Bauer, who never listens to her father.

-And that’s what Latham gets for using his cell phone while driving.

-That was quite the stall that vehicle did. It sounded like a 1950’s truck.

-And still, after nearly 2 years, bad things still happen in panel vans. At least they’re not purple.

-Are those black vans Fords? This year its bad guys drive Fords. It’s getting hard to keep up.

-Although the Tony-alike thug sounds a lot like Tony, there’s no substituting the real thing. His voice while speaking to Latham was a dead giveaway. The smile returned.

-Sorry about the run on sentence when intro’ing the senate hearing. That’s what he said, it’s not my fault it’s a run on.

-If this senate hearing aims to listen to every incidence of torture by every CTU division (remember that there are at the very least 10) then they have a long process. Especially if we assume that every CTU has a ‘Richards’ (torture expert) on staff. If they don’t, why was CTU LA special? Just because of Jack Bauer?

-Jack got cleaned up pretty quick after his little foray into Africa for ‘Redemption’.

-I always find it interesting the way they visually bring Jack into the story. Every year it’s something interesting and a little different than our usual ‘cut to Jack’ sequence.

-I think that the constant hand motion is a Kiefer Sutherland-ism. He does it in other things too but it seems to be more noticeable as Jack Bauer. Especially when Jack is calm, most of his body and his glare are stationary but those hands never seem to stop. Hence the pen.

-Good to know Jack is still Jack. Love how he’s not going to have Meyer coddle him, right to the point.

-It was also an interesting change in Meyer once he got down to the business of interrogating Jack.

-There was something kind of cool about how Jack said the last 2 in 2002. I can’t put a finger on it, but it was… different. And don’t pawn it off on him being Canadian, being one myself I’d hear that.

-I hate how Meyer badgers Jack and mocks his ‘Probably’ answer. I wanted to get up and break some protocol on him, and I’m sure Jack did too.

-It’s very reassuring to us of Jack’s character that he faces his past, his demons, in such a forward way. He is not proud of his choices but he made them and is willing to face the consequences.

-I don’t know why, but the idea of Jack being ‘activated’ makes him sound more like a James Bond kind of spy than an employee.

-You know, as much as I don’t like the idea of torture and all that junk, if there really was a Jack Bauer out there, I would be on the side of Jack, making the tough choices but doing what’s right, as long as he really was doing what’s right. It’s true that the bad guys don’t play by the rules so in this kind of extreme situations you gotta do what you gotta do to save innocents.

-Jack’s allusion to a combat soldier is probably why he makes such a good agent. He was a soldier.

-Jack was also an English major. Logical from his passionate and well expressed speech. It’s kind of interesting that after all this time, 6 days with Jack Bauer, we haven’t had a lot of time to hear him speak in this kind of way. Very few times have we really heard him be this articulate, it’s kind of nice.

-That guard that whispers to Meyer, I’ve seen him before. I can’t place him but he’s been in 24 before. He looks a little like a taller Jon Cassar (director of this episode & executive producer).

-Love the feedback on the mic Senator. This guys a real rocket scientist.

-Line of the week contender: Meyer: “I’m not surprised that anyone has a subpoena for Mr. Bauer.” Delivered with great expression.

-So, they are reconvening to continue with Jack on trail tomorrow, as in 24 hours from now, as in, as soon as Jack’s day is over, whatever he does, he will be back to being indicted by the US Senate tomorrow.

-The tone Meyer has when he tells Jack to ‘go along with these agents’ sounds like he’s addressing a kid.

-I think that I’m already not going to like Janice at the FBI office. One Chloe is enough, do we really need 2? Although, she seems to be a little less socially awkward than Chloe. Time will tell.

-Cheerful, well, that’s one way to describe it.

-Does every office on the planet have the same set of people in it? You know the kind I mean, the Sean and Janice/Chloe and Edgar/Sarah/Milo (pre in-charge)/Paula/Spencer/name any slightly awkward tech from Season 2 on? I was kind of looking forward to leaving all that crap behind since we changed locations.

-I’m sure Dornan is really looking forward to dealing with Sean to get the packets. Special.

-Latham looks pretty rough in not a whole lot of time.

-Either something terrible is going to happen to that flight or something terrible was supposed to happen to it until Latham screwed up his work. I know because they showed us the passengers and the kid on the plane. You know, so we care.

-Oh, seeing that stewardess give ‘the talk’ just gets me all worked up. I spent a few years doing a LOT of flying and I think that I can recite that speech

-Moss seems like a decent FBI boss. Forward, cares about his agents and wants to get his job done.

-Speaking of caring about his agents, the way he was watching Renee with Jack, if there is a love triangle coming I’m going to be one pissed off customer. We’ve already established (Season 2) that Jack cannot develop a love story in the span of one of these ‘days’. Continue a romance, yes, meet some one and fall in love, not so much.

-Jack is obviously holding a touch of hostility for the government, we’ve seen him borderline disrespect for people that outrank him 2 times in 10 minutes.

-Jack, go off? Never! Whose file has Moss been reading?

-Does everyone on the planet have access to Jack’s file, by the way?

-Love how Jack doesn’t sit when he’s told. Always looking to gain control.

-If Renee really did read Jack’s file she would know that Jack does indeed know how dire the situation is. I was not happy that she cut across him like that. Rude, rude, rude.

-Good thing that chair was there for Jack, he did need it after all.

-Sutherland is right back in the swing of Jack. The way his emotions played out when he found out about Tony was pitch perfect. He went from disbelief to anger to hurt, all in about 5 seconds.

-It’s sad that Jack wasn’t in on Tony’s secret. After all, when Jack ‘died’ Tony helped him, Tony went it alone.

-If there was anything that was going to make Jack go off, it would have been Renee having Tony’s grave exhumed. Wow. That shocked me too.

-So, the evidence is the photo? That’s it? He already looked at it.

-I feel so sorry for Jack, he just looks so sad sitting there looking at the photo of his presumed dead friend.

-I like Tony’s haircut. I don’t, however, like his scars. They do, though, make him look pretty badass so I guess they accomplished their objective.

-It’s funny how Masters sounds like Tony until Tony shows up, then he doesn’t.

-Tony’s light face scratching is the same as Jack’s hand playing. They just do it. That face scratch is almost as comforting as the Cubs mug. I wonder if EvilTony likes the Cubs as much as GoodTony did.

-If Tony kills Latham out of cold blood, I guess that would show us he is indeed eeevil. Non GoodTony wouldn’t kill for no reason. He couldn’t even kill Henderson after he killed Michelle… but maybe that was part of the set up.

-I like Taylors take on the press and how they will react to them intervening in Sangala versus if they do nothing. It’s very accurate.

-So CTU has been dismantled but we still get a ‘Situation Room’, only now its in the white house. At least they cant say that nothing good came out of the existence of CTU.

-I really wanted to get to use the phrase ‘First Husband’, I have to say that I’m proud of myself.

-Ethan Kanin was a smaller part of last season and I think I like that he’s back this year. I have to say that I am a little confused about his name, though. Last year he was called Kanin pronounced like canon, as in cannonball. Now, though, he is calling himself Kanin like kane-in. Weird.

-It’s interesting that they have worked to get Henry Taylor involved in the storyline. I see him, currently, as the Season 1 Sherry Palmer character. Hopefully he doesn’t go all psycho too, I don’t think I can handle another loony husband or wife in the White House.

-I generally try not to nit pick reused storylines too much because I know it’s hard for the writers after this long, BUT, when the Taylor’s share their little hand hold in the oval office, I am so incredibly strongly reminded of Jack and Audrey in Season 4 that I had to say something.

-It was really cute how Henry whished his wife luck. It made me smile.

-I don’t think I really like Kanin giving the President a rough time about her husband. He’s just trying to help and whether he’s ‘up to it’ or not really shouldn’t be any of his business.

-I like that Allison is the strong one in the relationship. I mean, if she’s going to run the country she should be in charge.

-Good to see that Taylor does indeed care about her son’s death, but she knows she has a job to do still.

-I never got a chance to say that I’m sad the son is dead… I enjoyed him in his short time on the show during Redemption.

-That was a really fast diagnosis at JFK about the flash coming from the system kernel. He didn’t even type anything.

-Jack seems so displaced by this whole ‘Tony is bad’ thing. He doesn’t know what to believe but he knows what he wants to believe. I mean, it has to be hard on the guy, one of his only friends dies in his arms but now might be a terrorist. He probably can’t figure out whether he should be happy Tony’s alive or hurt because he went bad.

-Faction, I just don’t like that word for some reason. Faction, faction, faction.

-I don’t know if I’d call Michelle’s murder brutal. Unnecessary yes, uncalled for, yes. Brutal? I don’t know. I think more along the lines of torture when I hear ‘brutal.’

-Correction, Jack, Logan is not in prison.

-If Jack was going to ‘go off’, it would have either been when Renee told Jack that Tony was alive or when she tried to push him into his past by reflecting Tony’s position on Jack.

-Jack and Tony have similar training and some of it is indeed the same, but a good deal of their training is also different including their pre-CTU history.

-Anyone else REALLY upset that Renee’s phone didn’t ring the CTU ring? That was one of the most consistent and memorable things on the show, the CTU ring.

-Renee seems to be the master of the obvious questions right now, but it’s early in the game.

-Those most have been some serious rookie flight attendants to get scared about the turbulence. The amount that a stewardess would see over their career is more than I’d like to think about.

-I’m definitely picking up a little somein’ somein’ between Renee and Moss.

-I’m a little confused as to what happened in Renee’s office. She gave Jack the files to start and then minutes later pulled him out to work with Sean. I guess it was just an excuse to get Sean some more lines, which is unfortunate because I HATE him.

-It’s kind of funny to see Jack working with Sean. They are such polar opposites, Jack the gung-ho hard working no whining agent and Sean the uber-complaining, resistant eye rolling tech.

-I love how Taylor put Stevens in his place.

-How many more times are we going to have to hear the exposition about the tech thefts and Tony’s crew. I’m tired of it already.

-12 hours to land all flights over the US? That’s a little extensive, isn’t it? I remember on 9/11 it didn’t take them that long to bring down the flights that were in the air. They were landing planes everywhere, including at Canadian airports.

-If they are trying to do it quietly, I can buy 12 hours but they wouldn’t be quiet about it once they begin stopping planes from taking off altogether.

-Taylor is certainly channelling Palmer, especially her no BS, forward and noble (so far) ways. That’s nice after Logan and then the last slime bag.

-I like Watt, we should see more of him.

-It’s nice how Henry is a nice guy, not some crazy jerk or something.

-Man, PI’s get a bad wrap on this show. First the Warner’s in Season 2 (although, I guess he kind of was right) and now this guy.

-What would happen to that Secret Service agent if something happened to the first husband on one of these ‘off the manifest’ trips? Serious trouble I think.

-It’s nice to have a secret service agent with a personality again. They are always around the show but usually ignored with the exception of course, of Aaron Pierce. We need another good agent in the show, or Aaron back.

-Why did Henry ask Agent Gates’ opinion if he wasn’t going to change his mind anyway?

-Oh, honestly. Janice and her whiny, scared pain-in-the-ass-ness, just not cool. We already dealt with this, repeatedly, with many other techs before. Don’t need to see it again. If I, for some strange reason wanted to see it again, I could go watch my Season 2 or 3 DVD’s.

-I think that’s a new 24 on screen record for Jack. Nearly 45 minutes in a tie. Wow.

-I have to say that Jack looks good but kind of funny with the tie pulled down and the top button undone on his shirt.

-He should have pocketed the tie and then used it in a few hours to tie someone up.

-Okay, done with Sean.

-Could we please have a $14 an hour guy do Sean’s job? They not only make half the pay, but they would probably be half as annoying.

-So, 1999. Hmm. Okay. Well, 24 premiered in 2001, after 9/11. If it was 2001 in the 24-verse at that time then the numbers don’t seem to really add up. CTU seemed relatively new at the time (but old enough for Jack to take down some bad guys internally) and Tony and Jack didn’t seem to have been working together all that long. I guess long enough for Tony to be #3 at CTU, so who knows. It just seems like either 24 started pre-2001 or Jack and Tony are really old. Jack was listed as 36 on his bio while Tony was listed as 29. The shortest distance we’ve had between seasons has been 18 months, the longest, 3 years. If we average 2 years and Jack was 36 in Season 1, then he would be 48 now and Tony 41.

-Also, if Jack and Tony were ‘close’ before season 1, why was Tony so resistant to him and why did he openly admit that he didn’t like him?

-I really hate how everyone is treating Jack as some kind of terrible person. In case Moss and the FBI have forgotten, Jack did all the things he did to save lives, probably theirs at some point. It’s so incredibly wrong that they treat him this way.

-Although, I did really love Jack getting in Moss’ face like that. Didn’t like Moss’ reaction, but I liked Jack getting angry.

-I, for one, would have loved to see Jack throw him up against the wall, but I sense that will have to wait.

-Line of the week contender, Jack to Larry: “You have no idea what I’d do.”

-I would like to see Walker try and take on Jack. She thinks she has so much control over him, SHE has no idea what he’d do.

-Also, the way Moss talks about CTU and the ‘terrible’ things they did. See above.

-It is so sweet that Jack doesn’t believe that Tony is bad.

-Jack is still Jack, he wants to find Tony because he is doing something dangerous – undoubtedly from that tone, to protect him.

-Taylor is decisive, that’s nice. She’s not taking any crap from anyone. But, even better, she knows how to make it right.

-I really like Gabe, too bad that he died because he was funny, and I enjoyed his accent.

-Gabe certainly knows Jack well.

-Ouch that Gabe looks to Jack while talking about Tony’s death. He knows just where to push Jack.

-Also, I wonder if Jack’s actions had anything to do with CTU being dismantled. I seem to doubt that, but it would be an interesting twist.

-Ooh, Renee kicking some ass. That was good, she works well with Jack like that.

-It’s great how Schecter is all smiles and jokes until the guns come out, then he’s a chicken.

-Jack must respect Renee in some ways, he did ask her for her okay before he went after Schecter.

-Oooh, Tony called Jack. SO mean.

-It sounds like Tony is concerned for Jack. Interesting.

-Overall, a pretty strong first episode. I’m just happy to have Jack back.

*All stories, characters, plots and ideas © 20th Century Fox. No infringement intended or implied.*