7.17: 12:00am -1:00am - Diversion

7.17: 12:00a.m. -1:00a.m.

~ Diversion ~
2009.04.06

12:00

At Starkwood we are in the middle of a standoff. The lights are turned up on the HUM-V’s, Tony steps forward to Moss, neither of them have their guns up. Tony counts 3 platoons at least, they were waiting for them and this is one big trap. Moss tells his comm. that he wants the satellites overhead. Janice is trying but the subnet keeps crashing. She says in a second she has it. Moss wants her to talk to him, she is seeing hostiles on all sides, they need to find him an opening. Janice has no way though. She does see something else, Moss sees it too, three more vehicles approach together. They contain Hodges and some more of his goons. Hodges gets out and Tony, back behind Moss, ID’s him as Hodges. Hodges gets out and Stokes says that the men are ready. He appreciates Hodges’s presence. Hodges asks, ‘Where else would I be?’

Jonas comes up to the soldiers and asks who is in charge. Moss steps forward and wants Hodges to move his men and allow them to proceed. Hodges wants them off their property and for Moss to release his man, ‘You have no right to take him hostage.’ Moss has orders from the President of the United States but Hodges points out that it’s to search this building. He is on his soap box and says it’s for weapons that do no exist. He goes too it and looks inside asking if there are weapons of mass destruction, if there are weapons of any kind. He yells if there is anything at all in there. Moss looks away and Tony looks unhappy. Hodges turns back to Moss and wants to know who it was that dreamed up this charade. He wants names so they can get to the bottom of this. Moss closes into Hodges and says, ‘You wanna talk to me Mr. Hodges? Get these guns off my head.’ Hodges asks if Moss thinks he has a gun at his head. Hodges has the US government sending SWAT teams in and attack helicopters in the middle of the night. A government that he has served faithfully for 30 years that is dreaming up BS charges and policies to dismantle his company. Hodges gives Moss 5 minutes to get the helicopters out of there with all of them on board. Moss isn’t threatening but tells Hodges that he doesn’t want to do this. Hodges reiterates, 5 minutes. He pauses to smirk and says he wants his man back. Hodges walks away.

Moss asks if Renee got that, which she did. He wants to know what the options are but Renee will have nothing in 5 minutes. There is no time. Renee takes off from the others to find Jack. He is working on a terminal in a station all by himself. He is just finishing and getting up and she explains to him about the time limit. Jack may have found a way in. In Senator Meyer’s file a man named Doug Knowles was mentioned, he is the chairman of Starkwood. He was helping the senator and allowed him access to the books. Renee is worried; they just got burned on something like this. This guy worked for Starkwood for 20 years and now he is helping bring them down? Jack thinks he’s probably scared of something, it’s worth a shot. Renee tells Jack to make the call.

Doug answers his phone and Jack identifies himself, they got his number from Senator Meyer. Doug knows that Meyer is dead and Jack confirms this, he was with him when he was killed by one of Starkwood’s people, John Quinn. Doug sounds relieved, he says Jack has no idea how much he was hoping someone would call. Jack doesn’t understand. Doug says things are very out of control. Jack asks, ‘Are you aware of what’s happening on your base?’ He is watching it with his own eyes, the FBI is pinned down and say they are looking for bio-weapons. Jack says that Jonas Hodges is in possession of a military grade bio-weapon, a preon variant developed in Africa with General Juma. Doug confirms it’s not where they think it is. They are all standing in front of an empty hangar. Jack tells Doug that the FBI was deliberately led to the wrong location by Seaton. Jack confirms that the weapon does exist, he was contaminated when they were in transit back to the base. He glances back at Renee and says they arrived at Starkwood approximately 90 minutes ago. Doug says 90 minutes ago Jonas was handing down his new strategy to the board, stonewall the government, no cooperation whatsoever. Jack and Renee exchange glances. Doug can’t believe this is happening. Jack promises the weapons are on the base Jack wants to know if he has any idea where they might be. Doug might. Renee stands and Jack wants to put him in touch with one of their agents in the field. Jack will call him right back. He hangs up and tells Renee to go, they jog over to where the others are working.
 

Stokes is having a conference with Hodges and he tells his boss that some of the men were not happy about drawing on Federal Agents. Hodges expected that. Stokes heads away and gives the men the order to move into position. The commandos close in on Moss, Tony and the SEALS. Moss hands Tony and earpiece which he puts in his still bloodied ear. Jack says he is on with him and Renee. Jack wants Larry and all the others to go and for Tony to stay behind, he explains about Doug. Moss asks quietly, ‘Isn’t that how we got into this mess? Almeida and some supposedly friendly contact?’ Tony just looks back and Renee explains about Doug cooperating with Meyer. ‘He is all that we’ve got.’ Moss isn’t sure how he’s supposed to do this, he’s got 400 eyeballs on him, how is he going to do this? Jack needs him and his men to create a diversion to cover Tony’s escape. Jack needs Moss to make this work, if they all get on the helicopters they are going to lose this weapon for good. The chopper is starting up and Moss says nothing. Renee wants to know if Larry is on board for this. Moss looks around and after a pause says they have to go. Renee needs to know if Larry is on board. ‘I’ll do what I can.’ Moss looks to Tony and says quietly, ‘Take his bag.’ motioning to another officer. He give the order to go they’re standing down. Moss grabs Greg on the way by saying he is coming with him. Greg bargains that this was not part of the deal. Moss sees no deal anyway, he doesn’t think Hodges cares about him one way or the other. Greg steps back from Moss and threatens, “Take these handcuffs off me or things are going to get really ugly.” Moss winds up and punches Greg. In return he receives the butt of a gun in his face. He goes down with his palms on the ground and Tony slides over, unclips the bag of the soldier and slips out the back. Stokes closes in on Moss who stands up slowly. Stokes tells him to get the hell out of there, he doesn’t want to touch this. Moss runs his tongue around the inside of his mouth and looks around before giving the go order. They move out. Hodges watches from his jeep. The SEALS and FBI load back up onto the same choppers they just got off. Moss puts his earpiece back in.

Tony rounds a corner and someone jumps out of the shadows telling him not to move. Tony aims his gun at them and Doug Knowles shows his hands to Tony. He identifies himself and says that Jack Bauer sent him. He urges Tony to come with him and they hide in a car port. A team comes by searching with lights. Knowles mentions the cameras and says he is going to take Tony to the east perimeter, there’s a good chance the weapons are there. The place is crawling with them, he doesn’t know if they’ll make it there. Tony can take care of that. He radios to Jack that he is with Knowles. Jack stands away from the table at the FBI leaning on the post. His knee buckles and he leans into the pole. Tony gives his location but Jack turns away, his hand shaking at his side. He takes a couple of steps away and sits on a counter top. Tony calls for Jack, he needs support. Jack doesn’t answer and Renee turns to look for him. Tony calls for Renee who copies and then looks to Janice who appears worried. Tony urges them, “Come on, lets go.” Janice gives Tony the all clear to proceed at his own discretion. Renee gets up and goes to Jack. Tony copies and follows Doug out. Renee calls Jack’s name and he looks at her. She asks if he is alright and he breathes, “Yeah, I’m fine.” She tells him that Tony and Knowles have connected, it’s time to call the White House with an update. Jack nods, he will be right there. He looks down and she leaves. Jack winces and then looks up.
  

12:10

12:15

Jack is seen leaning over the table in the conference room trying to control pain.

Taylor is in her office and Tim comes in and tells her that Jack Bauer is on line 7. Taylor puts him on speaker and wants him to tell her he has the bio-weapon. Jack confirms this isn’t the case, the search was stopped by armed mercenaries on the Starkwood base. Agent Moss was forced to withdraw to prevent a firefight. Taylor clarifies that they were going to fire on Federal Agents. Jack says that’s right and Taylor asks who Hodges thinks he is. Jack explains briefly about Doug and Taylor thinks that’s good. The military is mobilizing but they are still several hours out. They are looking at a war against 1500 mercenaries with a bio-weapon. Jack tells Taylor that he thinks an air strike would work if they could pinpoint the exact location. Taylor makes sure Jack has seen the canister and knows what it looks like. She wants him to verify it once Almeida is with it. Olivia’s phone rings in Taylor’s office and she takes the call. Taylor tells Jack and Renee that there can be no more mistakes. They are to get visual confirmation from Jack. Jack agrees and asks if there is anything else. Taylor picks up the phone for privacy and asks Jack, ‘I was told you were exposed to the pathogen. How are you doing?’ Jack looks away and says, ‘I’m fine Madam President, thank you for asking.’ Taylor thanks him for his service and says she’s not giving up on him yet. She wants to be kept informed. Jack agrees with a ‘Yes ma’am.’ They hang up the call and Renee leaves the conference room, Jack behind her. His hand is at his side but is shaking.

Olivia has come out of the President’s office and answers her phone. It’s Ken the reporter who has called her three times. He has a source at the Port Authority that is talking about WMD’s. Olivia can’t tell him anything yet but he wants to know now. She already gave him a big story, she has to go. He warns her not to hang up on her, it would be a mistake. He asks how her mother would feel when she finds out that she forced out her Chief of Staff so she could take over the position. Olivia calls Kanin incompetent. Ken doesn’t think that’s how it will play out on the news. She relents, they agree to meet at his hotel in half an hour. She hangs up and calls Pierce to get a car ready, she has to make a quick run.

Tony and Doug jog up to a building. Doug explains that there has been increased activity there for several days. There are half a dozen buildings in the area and it could be in any one. Jack is getting infrared up, there are seven buildings there and the building south east of his position is showing no infrared signal, Jack is guessing they’re using a blackout shield. Tony and Doug will head that way first, he asks about patrols but Janice has nothing coming, he’s clear. Tony gets up and Doug follows to a nearby staircase. They go up a couple of steps and Doug tries his key card to get in the door. He can’t get in. Tony tells Jack this and that they need electronic support. Janice tells Tony that there should be an R6 module on the back of his comm. device, it’s a card key. Tony is already pulling it out of his back pocket and says, “Yeah, I know what that is, thank you.” He slides the card in the slot and says he’s plugging in now. He pulls up the screen and looks. Janice is up, she knows what kind it is and techs it out. She starts to run communications. Jack watches as does Renee. Renee warns Tony that there’s a vehicle coming his way from about 100 yards east. He starts to look while he holds his device. He tells Doug to take cover below them and then asks how much longer. Jack asks Janice urgently, “How much more time do you need.” Janice only has 2 out of 5 digits. Tony is worried, “We’re pretty exposed here.” Jack winces and leans over the table. Renee asks, “Jack?” and he looks back up, “It’s alright, I’m fine.” He looks away and winces again.

Tony still waits by the door. He looks out and sees lights so he jumps the railing and lands near Doug. They are hiding behind some barrels. Lights flash in and Tony warns Doug to stay down. Another patrol drives by and they shine their light to where they are hiding. Tony gets lower but his head can be seen. Janice has 2 more numbers and Doug asks what they are going to do. Tony explains they have 2 digits still and the commandos decide to pull around. They’ve seen something. Doug says they’re not going to make it and gets up. Tony tries to call him back but he’s gone. Tony waits.

Doug walks out in front of the Jeep and puts his hand up for them to stop. A man gets out of the passenger seat telling him to hold his position, he wants some ID. Doug pulls it out of his suit pocket and ID’s himself. Tony watches. Janice has one number yet. The soldier apologizes but Mr. Hodges has ordered the base cleared of all non-essential personnel. Doug echoes the words non essential personnel and holds up his ID again, “Chairman of the board.” The other commandos still shine lights near Tony as the first one explains that they are dealing with a heightened security situation, he needs to know what Doug is doing in this area. Doug says Jonas called a late night board meeting, that’s what he’s doing there. The commando says that meeting ended nearly 2 hours ago.

Janice has the numbers and Tony has them on his console, 69877. He looks up and the commando says he doesn’t think Doug is hearing him. Doug looks over to near where Tony is, the light on the panel is green. Doug yells back, “I don’t think you’re hearing me. I built this company.” He creates a scene by yelling and the other commandos turn to look. Tony uses the chance to scale the railing, collect his card and get in the door. Doug is led away into the jeep.

Tony is in but they got Knowles. Renee asks if Tony thinks he will say anything and Tony doesn’t know. Jack is leaning over the table still. Tony says he will get in and out as fast as possible just in case. Renee tells him the President needs a visual on the weapon before she launches the attack. She needs Tony’s eyes on the weapons and confirmation by Jack. Jack, meanwhile, isn’t looking too good, he is fighting back signs of pain and suddenly leans down using the side of his hand to wipe his eyes and nose. Tony is moving and Renee says good. She looks at Jack. He’s in pain, facing down with his eyes closed still leaning on the table. He grunts and Renee calls his name. He looks up and pulls his earpiece out saying, “Stay here, I’ll be right back.” He stands and turns away from the others. He takes a couple of steps before his legs give out and he goes flying into a table full of binders, CD’s and other office items. Renee was watching and gets up right away calling him. He hits the floor hard on his side making a mess of CD’s and papers and holding his midsection. Renee is panicking and rushes to his side. He rolls over onto his back and his eyes are wide, gasping and rocking up and down. Renee yells, “Get me the medic!” She gets one hand behind his head and the other she’s not sure what to do with. Jack looks like he’s trying to communicate something but his eyes are wide with panic and fear.

12:22

   

12:27

The boxes come up and there is no sign of Jack.
Jonas is told by a commando that they found Knowles alone outside the secured area. He said he was walking. He asks Hodges if he would like him to contact Stokes for interrogation. Hodges wants to know what he is suggesting, that they strap Knowles down and extract a confession because the chairman of the board was out walking. The commando is defensive. He was just requesting instruction. Hodges wants Doug taken to his office and make sure he stays there until he arrives. He also wants to make sure that Knowles is alone. The commando takes off and Hodges goes into where they are working on the weapon. He is told it will be another half an hour. The tech will let Hodges know the minute it’s done.

Olivia and Pierce arrive in the hallway of the hotel. She is good to go but Pierce doesn’t want her to go in until he has vetted the room. She turns back to him and appreciates his concern, but he can see the door from there and she has him on speed dial, and also, she can scream very loudly. She will just be a few minutes, she has to deal with a reporter. Pierce agrees to wait.

Olivia knocks on the door, Ken answers and Olivia places her purse and phone down as well as her jacket. Ken is drinking and offers Olivia one, but she is fine. Olivia tells him that she doesn’t like being threatened and he apologizes. They have known each other a long time and they agree they want to continue to work together. Ken talks about his source at the Port Authority container yard. Ken knows about the firefight and the hijacked WMD. She doesn’t add anything and Ken wants her to give him more information about this. She can’t add anything; it’s a national security issue. He tries to convince her and it doesn’t take her long to fill him in about the bio-weapon in the container yard and the fact that it was moved to Starkwood. They are planning an attack on the compound and he can’t tell the public because Starkwood can’t find out, it would put people in danger. There are a lot of lives at stake, it’s a surprise attack. He takes another drink and agrees maybe he does need to kill the story. She thanks him but he clarifies, he means maybe someone could convince him. She asks what he’s saying and he claims she already knows. He calls her beautiful and she backtracks, they agreed about this. He leans in to kiss her and she tries to talk him out of it. He doesn’t give up and she kisses him back.

Jack is being given an injection by Macer in his arm. He is in medical on sitting on the exam table. He appears to be fine now. Renee is sitting in a nearby chair and Macer explains that this is pandopamine and it should control the shaking. She withdraws the needle and tells Jack to apply pressure. She tells him that he can give himself an injection, probably once every 2 hours, more if needed. He asks if she thinks he will need more. Macer does, ‘The onset of symptoms so soon after exposure suggests the bioagent is more virulent then we thought.’ Renee stares ahead, listening. Macer hands Jack a pouch of loaded syringes and tells him, “All we’re doing here is just masking the symptoms.” Jack understands, he takes the medicine from her. Macer’s demeanour changes and she says there’s something Jack might want to consider. She explains that Bryden University has been funding studies on preon diseases. The work is purely experimental at this point but it does suggest treatment. Jack seems indifferent but Renee stands and says that’s good news. Macer doesn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, ‘We’re talking a slight chance. A possible treatment using stem cells from a genetically compatible donor.’ Macer actually smiles as she faces Jack and says, “An immediate family member would make the best donor candidate.” Jack looks away and grabs his coat, knowing what’s coming. “I saw your file, it says you have a daughter, right?” Jack looks down and tells her, “I don’t want my daughter involved in this.” He is already up and crossing the room when Renee calls him, “Jack, if there’s a chance…” Macer also tries, calling Jack, “Mr. Bauer.” Jack turns back and thanks Macer for everything she’s done but he needs to get back to work. Renee exchanges glances with Macer and follows him out, clicking heels heard.

Renee follows Jack and calls him back. He turns but doesn’t stop. He tells her it’s none of her business. Renee has caught up with him and says, “It’s my business when you’re having a seizure in the middle of the FBI.” Jack reminds her that she heard the doctor, the medication will mask the symptoms. They’ve arrived at the door and Renee demands to know, “Why won’t you even talk about this?” Thickly, Jack asks, “Talk about what?” Renee answers, “The experimental procedure.” Jack faces Renee and tells her that there’s nothing to talk about. Renee is baffled, “She’s your daughter and you’re not even gonna let her know?” Jack nods, “That’s right.” Renee leans back, “So you’re just not even going to try.” Jack lowers his voice and the gravel creeps in, “Look, Renee, I know you’re trying to help but you don’t know what you’re talking about here. My daughter and I, we don’t talk, okay? So please, just let it go.” Jack goes for the doorknob and Renee puts her hand on the door to stop him from going in. Jack slowly turns back to her and she argues, “It should be her choice.” Jack answers, “Well, it’s not. I’m the one that’s dying, it’s my choice.” He’s heard enough and opens the door disappearing into FBI. Renee stands and watches him go. She shakes her head and follows him.
   

Jack walks up to the table where Janice is and she has no sign of the device yet but they are working on it. Jack puts his jacket down and Janice observes that he looks better. He thanks her and picks up his ear piece. He puts it back in his ear and asks Tony if he can hear him. Tony is against a wall and asks concerned, “Jack, you okay?” Jack says he’s fine. Janice has new activity outside the building, 2 vehicles and 8 hostiles. Renee thinks it looks like a security detail and Janice asks if they think Knowles gave him up. Jack warns Tony that they are moving right to his point of entry. Outside, commandos get up the stairs and in where Tony was. Jack says there are 8 hostiles closing in. Tony is working a key card at a door and says he hears them. Jack wants to know if Tony wants to regroup but he types in the numbers and says no, he wants to get this over with. Tony goes through the door. It closes just as they are coming down the stairs. They’re clear and 2 of them break off and follow where Tony went, guns drawn. Tony hides behind a pillar and waits. When they come around, Tony surprises them. He grabs one of them around the neck and uses him as leverage to kick the other one in the head. He snaps the first guys neck and then moves over to the other one, kicking him in the face hard. He’s out as well and Tony turns him over. He starts to pull apart the Velcro on his vest.

12:35

12:40

Tony has taken the uniform from the commando and is now sporting a vest and bag. He takes off and then uses the stolen key card to let himself into the elevator. It’s empty when he gets on and he pushes a button and waits. Immediately before the doors close, a hand gets in it and the door opens again. Tom, the guy that had been working with Hodges, gets on. He stands there and looks through enlarged images of some kind of cells and Tony looks on as well. Tom observes that he hasn’t seen Tony before. Tony says they sent 8 of them over there, he calls him sir. Tom asks if something is wrong and Tony answers, ‘No, sir.’ He says it’s just a precaution. They get off the elevator and Tony walks the other way and then pauses. Jack ID’s himself and says he has him at 125 feet MSL, approximately 40 feet underground. He asks if that’s correct. Tony confirms he’s four floors down. Jack is already showing signs of pain again, he brings his hand up to his face as he leaves the frame and Janice says she has no sign of building underground. Tony says it’s there, he describes it. He is wandering around and comes out on the lab. He sees the canisters, he says he has a visual on the weapon, he’s sending images for verification. Tony drops his phone down in his hand and records what he’s seeing. Jack copies and brings it up on his computer. He looks at the large screen and moves over to it to look closer. Jack confirms those are the canisters and Renee goes to notify Admiral Smith. Jack tells Tony that they are the canisters. Tony is hiding behind a pole and watches Tom load a canister into a tube. He tells Jack that they are transferring the pathogen from the canisters to some sort of delivery system. He records this for Jack as well and he sees it but says it doesn’t matter, ‘Renee’s phoning in the coordinates, everything is going to be dust in the next 10 minutes, get out of there now.’ Jack hurries away from the screen and Tony copies, he’s withdrawing.
 

Doug is in his office and Janice comes in. He allows the commandos go and he comes over to Doug. Doug is angry, he wants an explanation why he was arrested by their own security forces and held captive in his own office. He wasn’t even allowed to call Hodges to find out what the hell is going on. Hodges muses that those are a lot of complaints. Doug brings up the bio-weapon, he want to know if it’s true. Hodges changes the subject and asks if Doug remembers when he first brought him out there, 20 years ago and there was nothing there. Hodges built this place out of the mud into the largest private army in the hemisphere, maybe the world. Hodges says they pulled America’s ass out of the fire again and again and again. Doug wants Hodges to answer the question and he claims he is. He rants that they have been doing what the government couldn’t or wouldn’t. They delivered results and no one cared how they got them. Doug thinks no one is questioning that but Hodges asks if he’s insane. The Senate, Committees, President, every chattering non-entity in Washington with a Standard Operating Procedure is asking how this was done. They are being persecuted for keeping the country safe. Doug doesn’t think they can start a war against the people they are supposed to protect. Hodges argues that the moment they decided to dismantle the company they were at war. As for particular weapons and Doug’s question, he wants to rephrase it, “Are we prepared to defend ourselves.” He answers his own question, they are. Doug warns that he can’t take on the federal government. Hodges nods and says that Doug was never one for thinking big. For 20 years he treated Doug like a son and a little loyalty was the least he deserved. Doug looks at Hodges and they lock eyes for a few seconds before Hodges hits Doug in the head with the large glass container he is holding. He hits him repeatedly and they find themselves near the railing of Doug’s second floor office. Hodges picks him up and throws him over. Doug lands on a giant map of the world painted on the ground.

Hodges looks down and sees that his shirt has blood spatter on it. He’s somewhat unhappy with this and walks over to the desk. There is ice and water in a bowl and he dabs his handkerchief in it and tries to get it off. He has no luck but his phone rings. Greg is calling, they got an alert from the radar, there are F-18’s heading their way. They should be there in less than 10 minutes. Hodges asks about their readiness and Greg says they should have 2. Hodges wants him to place the call to the President, he will be there momentarily.

12:47

12:51

Ken and Olivia have done the deed and she is getting dressed. He is still in bed, arm behind his head. He feels guilty and she wants reassurance that he won’t run the story. He apologizes, he has to, it will put him over the top. He promises they won’t know it came from her. She argues it will hurt the country. She goes to her phone that was sitting by her purse and opens it up. She plays back video of the two of them together. She threatens that if he runs the story or tries to blackmail her again she will tell everyone how he gets his leads and she thinks his wife will find it interesting. She understands it will be a nasty divorce. He calls her a bitch and she says to find a new beat, she doesn’t want him around the White House again. Her phone is going off and she has to take this. She leaves. Pierce is waiting and they head out.

Taylor was calling Olivia’s phone. She needs her there. Olivia had to deal with the press, they aren’t a problem anymore. Olivia is 5 minutes away.

Taylor comes into her meeting and she is told the F-18’s are 7 minutes out. They are going to be using white phosphorus charges, they burn at 5000 degrees. It will incinerate the pathogen; it’s confirmed by the CDC.

Jonas arrives where Greg and Tom are, the call to the President is in progress. Jonas says this is a historic day, a great day for Starkwood. He follows Greg’s gaze to his blood spattered shirt and says that it’s too bad Mr. Knowles can’t be joining them. Jonas leans over the computer and sees the weapons in the monitor.

At the White House, Taylor is told that radar is active in the compound; they know that they are coming. There is no indication that they can stop the planes from the ground. Taylor is told that there is a call for her from Jonas Hodges. She sighs and wants it on speaker but Hodges is requesting a private conversation. It’s on a proprietary line in the Op’s room. Taylor wants to know how he managed that but Tim has no idea. She stands and so does everyone else. Tim follows her and then closes the door once she is in the room.

Hodges is waiting for Taylor, he says he’s sorry it has come to this, he wants her to turn the planes around. She thinks he isn’t in a position to be issuing ultimatums but he thinks he is. He asks if she remembers several years ago, Starkwood was deployed to Pakistan. Taylor remembers because she fought it and lost. Hodges explains that they acquired a missile system while they were there, it’s loaded with the pathogen and aimed at American cities on the eastern seaboard. She thinks he’s bluffing but he proves it as a sign of good faith. He holds up his phone to the monitor and shows them ready to go. After she sees the screen he turns the phone on himself so she can see him on the screen. She doesn’t understand, she calls him Jonas and says he is waging war on his own country. He says that of course she would see it that way. Hodges wants to have that conversation later, he is coming to the White House. He wants a meeting in the Oval Office in confidence within the hour. He thinks its best that the American people don’t know about this standoff so she is to keep the reasons to herself and turn the planes around or he will have no choice but to launch the missiles. She starts to warn him but he just reminds her that he can detect any action taken against the facility. He gives her thirty seconds. She calls him again but the transmission has ended. She starts to think over her options.

In the split screen we see Taylor with the phone, Tony moving up the stairs and he sees the missile, Pierce and Olivia driving but most eyes undoubtedly are on Jack. He stands up from the table and walks back over around the corner. He is showing signs of pain again. He grabs the pack of syringes on the way and looks unhappy as he leans on the desk that he cleared on the way down earlier. He pulls out a needle and slides up his sleeve. Jack takes the cap off in his mouth and flexes his hand a couple of times. He injects himself with the pandopamine and winces leaning toward the pole. Renee has watched him go.

Taylor comes in the room and yells for them to abort the air strike. Admiral Smith tries to argue but she snaps to just do as she says. He picks up the phone and starts to make the call but then pauses. He starts to talk but she snaps, ‘Dammit, Admiral, abort the air strike immediately. He is convinced now and makes the call. She watches the monitor and soon the fighters blink facing the other way. She closes her eyes with relief and turns around. They are all watching her intently and she just turns and walks out the door.

1:00

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

-This is my first season watching ‘House’ and I have to say, at the beginning of this episode I was still reeling a bit from that show. I can’t believe they killed KUTNER! The guy who plays him has gone to work with President Obama. Gotta say it ranks in my list of worst character deaths. We’ll see how it plays out I guess.

-Okay, back to the show I’m SUPPOSED to be reviewing. If I have to see Taylor ask Olivia to be provisional Chief of Staff again, I’m gonna vomit, seriously. Having to sit through the stupidity once was enough. I really don’t want to see it again and be reminded how angry that makes me.

-On the other hand, I could see Tony yell at Seaton a million more times.

-It’s kind of funny that Janice has tech problems, you know, since we’re used to Chloe.

-Speaking of Chloe. I’m starting to wonder when she’s going to be back. I think I might almost miss her tech-ing on the laptop. I don’t miss some of her terrible lines.

-I love Tony’s color commentary to Moss on the who’s who of Starkwood.

-Where else would Hodges be? Well, since he’s a pretty old man and it’s after midnight, my guess would be in bed. I guess you can’t sleep, though when you’re working on your evil plot to kill a bunch of innocents. It truly is no rest for the wicked.

-I’m not sure Hodges is in a position to use the word ‘hostage’ when he is holding Federal Agents on his compound.

-I can’t figure out if I love or hate Jon Voight and his character or Hodges. Sometimes I just love what he’s doing, and sometimes I hate it. I think it’s to do with the way the character is written. Over the top in every way and going from very straight sounding to manic and crazy.

-It’s weird seeing Jack working all alone. He usually at least has a tech like Chloe with him.

-We never did find out what Knowles might have been scared of, unless, of course, it was Hodges.

-It felt like the phone conversation between Jack and Doug was a little weird. Doug said that things were out of control and then Jack asked if he knew what was going on at the base. It just felt like the conversation didn’t flow right.

-The word ‘Preon’ is not in my spell check. I’m basically guessing how that’s spelled. Also, bio-weapon isn’t in my dictionary. Obviously, those at Microsoft don’t watch 24.

-IS that same meaningful look going to happen every time Jack says the word ‘infected’?

-Poor Tony. He hasn’t even had a chance to wipe the blood off himself from the last time he was on his own and Jack volunteers him for another crazy mission.

-I’m not really sure if Moss’ line about Tony and a friendly was designed to insult Tony or just throw caution into the winds. I was surprised he got away with it without more questioning from Tony, though. He’s the sensitive type.

-I totally thought Moss was going to wimp out and not do what was necessary. I was pleasantly surprised when he took one for the team by creating the scene with Greg.

-Moss took that hit well, it had to hurt.

-That’s a convenient place for a break in the wall.

-It’s Tony’s black jacket that makes him all stealth like that. It’s cammo for the dark.

-Well, I think that was the first line that Stokes delivered that didn’t make me cringe. He says that Moss doesn’t want ‘a piece of this’. It’s a terrible line but it wasn’t delivered all that bad, for a change.

-I thought for sure Hodges was onto Tony when he was watching from the jeep.

-So, did Moss’ chopper crash? We haven’t seen him since about 7 minutes after the hour. I guess we were too busy with the riveting White House and Starkwood storyline, you know, because we can’t have that not the centre of attention or anything. (Does anyone have a sarcasm detector?)

-What kind of greeting was that from Doug? “Don’t move.” Don’t move? The guy doesn’t even have a gun. He’s in no position to be giving orders.

-Did Jack pick Tony for this mission because he is trying to get him to redeem himself? Then maybe they’ll let him off the hook at the end of the day.

-Doug is sure nervous, but rightfully so in the end.

-So, it took about an hour and 10 minutes for Jack to start showing symptoms. Scary.

-How come Renee and everyone else get the fancy wireless Bluetooth headsets and Jack wears the old school wired ones?

-Speaking of which, when Tony was calling for Jack he didn’t even have his in.

-Good to see that in everything they patched Jack up and gave him a bandage for the glass cut from Meyer’s doors.

-So, I guess Tony can hear everything that Renee says to Jack. It must be weird hearing it from that end.

-There’s the Jack we all love, ‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ LIAR! Epic fail, Jack. You’re far from fine.

-Ooh, Taylor has a call on line 7. Who is waiting on the other 6?

-What kind of directive is that, ‘No more mistakes.’ There really haven’t been that many considering the scale of things that have been happening today. Especially by Jack.

-It’s sweet that Taylor cares enough for Jack as a person to ask about his condition. It looks like after a term of non-Jack friendly Presidents we will have a Jack friendly one again. Excellent.

-So interesting the respect Jack has for the President. After everything, she is still the President. Just like Logan was.

-I wonder if Taylor put someone on finding out who was researching the disease that then got in contact with Macer.

-I have Olivia and I hate Olivia’s storyline. It’s boring. Damn, it’s boring.

-Kanin was hardly incompetent. He was probably the one that fixed the mess Olivia made in the first place and got Taylor elected.

-Tony and Doug made great time though the compound.

-It’s an interesting switch to see Tony in the field and Jack running point. I’m actually not that opposed to it as long as Jack is busy in the whole episode and not just 4 scenes. But Jack can do the tech and the recon and all that. We just don’t usually get to see it because he’s too busy killing people.

-Tony is not going to take well to being treated like a newbie by Janice.

-If it was Chloe doing the code they could have been in twice by now.

-It actually really hurts to see Jack showing pain like this. It makes me sad. :’(

-If Tony had that long cord, what didn’t he get down with Doug a lot sooner? He could have just waited down there.

-That commando has a lot of information about Hodges’ schedule How did he know the meeting ended 2 hours ago?

-Doug put down quite a good diversion as well, for a suit.

-A pretty safe bet would be that Knowles would talk. He may be good but he’s no field agent.

-It’s going to be hard to get visual confirmation from Jack if he is going to be getting this bad that fast.

-Wow, Jack got some slide time on the tile. Scary.

-I don’t think I have ever seen anyone fake a seizure that well. That was an impressive piece of acting. Also, his facial expressions are so spectacular. He is actually looking panicked which is so unlike Jack. He usually has some reservations about showing his fears, but with this his primitive urges come out.

-Renee also needs a pat on the back for this one, especially her hand placement. Like she’s not really sure what to do with them while Jack is seizing. After a second or so she gets one behind his head but the other, it’s like she doesn’t want to touch him or just doesn’t know what to do.

-I would like to state right now that I am extremely angry that we didn’t see Jack after the seizure. He is missing for a long time. They didn’t even give him a split box or anything. That would have sufficed for me just to know he is okay. Instead we have to sit through a bunch of Hodges and then a whole bunch of Olivia garbage. I was really mad. All I’m asking for is a split screen.

-I am doing the ‘I hate Olivia’ dance right now. I really know what my pet ‘FF’ scenes will be on the DVD set.

-Pierce must be slipping, there’s no way he should have let her in that room without checking it first.

-There was one thing that was interesting about Ken and Bor-livia. Was Carl, the port authority cop working for Ken as well?

-It was pretty obvious that Ken wasn’t going to kill the story. Because of that, we effectively wasted all that screen time for something that was irrelevant. WHAT’S HAPPENING TO JACK?

-It’s safe to assume that Renee helped get Jack to medical and that’s why she was there.

-Only Jack can be good looking with a needle sticking out of his arm.

-Renee seems to be taking the harder than Jack.

-I agree with Renee, GOOD NEWS JACK! He’s not necessarily dead! He might live! Oh happy day. I am doing the dance of victory.

-And the dance of victory abruptly ceases when I realize that Kim is the missing link.

-So, in case you were wondering (I was), a ‘stem cell transplant in an adult is a bone marrow transplant. There are also some stem cells in regular blood but from the sounds of it, Jack would need the transplant style to make this work. Also, probably chemo. Bald Jack=still sexy. (More info on bone marrow: http://www.neutropenia.ca/research/bone_marrow.html)

-If I was in Jack’s shoes, I don’t think I’d want to involve Kim either. For research purposes (a hard life I lead) I went back and watched the Jack/Kim episodes from Season 5. She basically tells him off the last time she sees him, she doesn’t want to see him again. I can see him fearing her saying no and therefore not wanting to get her involved. Also, Jack is stubborn and has always tried to protect Kim. He may not want to tell her because he doesn’t want her to have to go through a painful procedure to help him. Or, maybe he doesn’t want to get involved with her again in case he does die so he can protect her that way. Although, it would probably be worse for her if she found out later she could have helped him and he didn’t allow it.

-Jack nods and waves at a pole after he leaves the clinic. When they open the door there are people coming, but they’re on the other side of the hallway. He walks by a pole and politely acknowledges it before Renee catches up with him.

-Jack is right, Renee doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Jack and Kim have been through so much and have had such a terrible time. She wouldn’t survive half of what Kim has over the years.

-I wonder if there is another donor that might be able to help Jack. Like a non family match. Or maybe his extended family. You know, his Dad, or not, sibling? Ah, no. Um, mother? I guess we ca assume she’s dead. Hmm. Well, I guess maybe an anonymous donor.

-Renee is brave to stop Jack like that. She obviously has no idea who she is dealing with here.

-There’s something more real about hearing Jack saying that he’s the one that’s dying. Those words are wrong coming out of his mouth.

-That FBI door, there are about 6 of them on that wall, a bunch of them that Jack and Renee walked by. They all lead into the same room at the FBI. That must be the fire marshal’s dream. Many many exits.

-Jack does look better. Janice is right.

-I appreciate that they show Tony caring about Jack. I could do with more of that.

-Tony is still Tony. A reluctant but willing and valuable helper. He just wants to get this over with and get back to safety.

-What would Tony have done if both those guys were like, 5’1”? Those clothes wouldn’t have fit.

-What kind of stupid looking uniform is that anyway? Wow. Terrible.

-Actually, the vests are kind of nice, but not for this purpose.

-Nice move by Tony to get those guys. He’s all out on the kung-fu style.

-Tony took the leather jacket off. Oh no! I hope he goes back for it.

-Tony looks pretty goofy in that outfit.

-I’m pretty sure that Tony can ID’s Jack’s voice over the comm but yet he keeps telling him who it is.

-See, the product placement for the weapon identification was okay because it furthered the plot. We needed to see that for the sake of the show. It’s the useless stuff that makes me nuts.

-It was just about 10 minutes between Jack’s injection and him showing symptoms again. That’s a bad sign since Macer said 2 hours.

-Jonas is brutal to Doug. Ouch. That’s gotta hurt.

-Couldn’t Hodges have just answered yes or no to Doug? It would have saved us a lot of time.

-So there is Hodges’ reason. Jack was right, he called it when he was with Meyer.

-For the record, that was actually Jon Voight throwing a stunt double over the edge. Impressive for an old guy.

-Obviously Hodges’ wife does the laundry or he would know how to get that blood stain out.

-Did we really have to see Ken’s arm pit hair that long?

-The only thing creepier and sleazier than Ken is Olivia.

-Olivia takes more than 5 minutes. She is still in the car at the end of the episode.

-For a millisecond there, I thought maybe Tim was in on this with Hodges. I really hope he’s not, I like him.

-Jack is going to run out of pandopamine really quickly here.

-Taylor can get pretty snappy when she needs to.

-All of this other stuff is just distractions, but it’s not enough to distract me from the fact that seeing Jack once in the last half of the episode is simply not enough. Not even close.

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