Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Putting The "Curt" In "Curtis"
By M. Giant | Season 6 | Episode 3 | Aired on 01.14.2007
Meanwhile, Kiefer's own cell phone rings. He answers, and hears Assad telling the Handler, "I hope you're not going to let that bastard get away with this. Hit and run is a crime. You must file a police report." That is of course the least of the Handler's concerns right now. More worrisome to him is the fact that he's behind schedule; he's wrecked and abandoned his boss's car; he's had to involve other people in his activities; and he continues to suffer from a tragic affliction that renders him totally incapable of recognizing people's faces, whether it's his boss's boss or the government agent for whom his boss has had a vengeful hard-on for the better part of a decade. Kiefer puts his phone on hold and conferences in CTU to tell Buchanan that the Handler is hitching a ride with Assad. Buchanan wonders what that's about. "Suspect was involved in a traffic incident," Kiefer deadpans. He explains that Assad's phone is open in the car so that they can track his progress, but Assad's got some kind of reverse-mute thing set up so that he and the Handler can't hear Kiefer and CTU. Kiefer is off in hot pursuit, except he's going to be two miles back. Which would make it room-temperature pursuit, I suppose, if not downright nippy pursuit. CTU hears Assad telling the Handler to give them directions once they get to Newhall (even though he claims to have been going there to begin with), and Buchanan starts giving out orders for his people to be ready when the Handler arrives.
At Fayed's current HQ, which is of course nowhere near Palmdale, Fayed's tech guy tells him that it looks like somebody kicked over an anthill at Palmdale Military Prison. Fayed gloats, "By the time our jailed brothers have boarded the aircraft, it will be too late for the Americans to realize what's happened." I don't know what Fayed's native language is, but he certainly is fluent in Villain-ese. The tech guy frets that they still don't have "the component." Fayed's not too worried: "Ahmed should be on his way to pick it up now."
Actually, not so much; at 8:14:06, Ahmed's on his way back into the Wallaces' house, forcing Scott to walk in ahead of him at gunpoint. Mom hears Scott come in, and goes to meet him in the front room, but she stops short when she sees that he's accompanied by a very bloody Ahmed. "He has a gun," Scott tells his mom, which Ahmed corroborates by swinging it to point at Mom instead. He makes her call Dad into the room, and now that the family's all together, Ahmed repeats his threat that although he doesn't want to hurt anyone, he will unless they do what he says. Ahmed knows that Mom's a nurse, which he thinks means she has medical supplies in the house. Lucky for him, he's right. He sends her to go get the stuff, while Ahmed makes the guys sit with him in the living room. As Mom returns with the first aid kit, Ahmed keeps his gun leveled and tells her to stop the bleeding from his leg. "Stan was right," says Dad. "You are a terrorist." Oh, Dad, I'm so disappointed. Just because he's Middle Eastern and threatening you with a gun? Maybe he's just a hit man or a burglar or a drug dealer or something. And yet you assume he's a terrorist. Maybe that's why he became one. On the subject of Stan, Scott matter-of-factly points out that Ahmed killed him. As Megan Gallagher struggles to think all the way back to her China Beach days, Mom says that Ahmed's wound is too deep, and that he needs to see a doctor. He just tells her to bandage it for now. With his good leg, he kicks his backpack over to Dad and says that there's a package in there, which he's supposed to take to "a man who has an item for" Ahmed. Pressing on a pad of gauze on his leg, Ahmed says that since he can't make the exchange himself, Dad's going to have to do it. Dad doesn't want to leave his family alone with Ahmed, but Ahmed says that they'll be safe when Dad does what he's told. He's to call Ahmed for further instructions when he's made the pickup. Dad brings the cordless house phone over to where Ahmed can reach it, and Ahmed warns him that if he sees anything suspicious or if Dad takes too long, Mom and Scott will get it. Dad understands. Ahmed tells Dad to go into the front pocket of the backpack to find the address where Dad will find a guy named Marcus. Dad gets the address and the package, kisses his weepy wife goodbye, and reluctantly heads out. Pick up a gallon of milk while you're at it, okay? It's 8:17:20.