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Luckily for Audrey, Henderson didn't actually sever an artery after all, which means she gets to continue to participate in the proceedings. Which include Kiefer catching up to Henderson and demanding the recording back. But Henderson threatens to have Secretary Heller killed if Kiefer doesn't let him go, so Heller kills himself instead (apparently). And then it turns out that Henderson handed off the recording to someone else anyway. Kiefer heads off in pursuit, leaving Audrey alone with Henderson. This turns out to be a bad idea on several levels, but it all turns out okay; Curtis shows up in time to rescue her from Henderson's cavalry and take the bad guy into custody. At CTU, Shari comes clean to Hayes about why she let Chloe go, including Chloe's accusations against Logan. And Hayes's confusion about Logan's activities and motives begin to become clear for her. As they do for FLOTUS when Logan also comes clean. She's pissed, but she promises to keep quiet. Which seems to satisfy Logan's boss, for the moment. Yes, I said Logan's boss, We don't learn much about him. Kiefer follows the recording back to Van Nuys Airport, where a diplomatic flight of some sort is being boarded. Slime traces Chloe to Buchanan's house and Hayes lets him send a team to pick her up, but at the last minute she calls to warn Chloe to get out. And Kiefer stows away on that diplomatic flight. Better hope that luggage compartment is pressurized, dude. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
When last we saw Kiefer, he was just about to move a wounded Audrey out of the airplane hangar. And when we come back from the previouslies, we see that he's succeeded in moving her about ten feet. I guess that's all he really needed to get her into a seated position, leaning her against a parked forklift or Bobcat or something. The tourniquet he's tied around her arm is working better than he expected; in fact, the bleeding has already stopped, which means that Henderson didn't sever her brachial artery after all. That seems like a cheat, given the amount of gore she left on the ground at the end of last hour, not to mention the mess on her clothes and Kiefer's hands. But then blood always looks like there's a lot more than there really is, don't you find? I sure do. Remind me to tell you that story some time. Anyway, Kiefer says he wants to get her to a doctor, but first she tells him to "do what you have to do." Shoot her like a lame horse? No, he simply tries to dial Chloe on his cell phone, but it goes right to her voicemail. Audrey asks who else can help him, but he says nobody else has access to CTU's satellites. Nobody else still alive, anyway. And then there's the sound of another cell phone ringing. Kiefer follows the noise to the guard from Heller's Secret Service detail who was watching them when they were tied up in the hangar. The guard's dead now, of course, but luckily his cell phone battery isn't. Kiefer checks the caller ID, then answers, "This is Jack Bauer."
It's Heller, naturally, who wants to know why the hell Kiefer's answering his guard's phone. Kiefer has to explain that Henderson just blew through, killing Heller's guys and getting away with the recording. Heller asks if Audrey's all right, and Kiefer exaggerates that she is. "She's going to need a honkin' glass of orange juice, though," he doesn't add. Heller tells Kiefer that President Logan accepted his terms when he arrived at Not Camp David, but reneged after receiving a phone call. Kiefer figures the caller was Henderson. Heller offers to help get the recording back, but Kiefer doesn't think so: "With all due respect, Mr. Secretary, I asked you for help and you betrayed me." Drama-queeniness aside, I love how Kiefer always says "With all due respect" when he means, "Fuck you." And now even Heller falls victim to the curse of Kiefer ass-kissing: "I made a mistake," he begs. "Please forgive me." Except he says it all angry-like, and good for Bill Devane for not buying into this soapy dialogue. Kiefer just hangs up the dead guard's phone, because it's not like the Secretary of Defense is going to be able to help him with spy satellites or anything.
Kiefer's call is on his own phone, to Bill Buchanan's house. "I don't have time to explain," he says, a rarity in the opening minutes of an episode. He says he's been trying to reach Chloe. I had to think for a minute about how Kiefer knew that Buchanan would be at home instead of at work (never mind that it's 1 AM; I finally figured out that CTU is on the Centaurian thirty-seven-hour day from Men in Black), but then I remembered that while he was tied up in the maintenance room with Audrey, she had plenty of time to tell him how she sold Buchanan up the river to get Kiefer's satellite coverage. Anyway, Buchanan tells him that Chloe's right there with him, having escaped from custody last hour. On speakerphone, Kiefer asks her to access CTU's satellites to track Henderson. She's nervous about her chances of getting caught doing that, but he talks her into technobabbling her assent. Apropos of nothing except some stuff that'll happen later, she adds that she can set up a way for his calls to remain untraceable, but only on the phone he's using now. Kiefer hangs up and tells Audrey they have to bounce, then hauls her to her feet. That coat of hers is ruined. I'm having trouble feeling sad about it.
Back at Cabana Buchanan, Chloe is furiously technobabbling orders at her former boss to help her augment her laptop. "I hope you don't mind me bossing you around, but technically I don't work for you anymore," she remarks. Buchanan's totally cool with it, although he'd probably prefer her to stifle the narration.
Back at the airfield, Kiefer's loading Audrey into his stolen police car. Chloe is calling him back already, saying she's loading satellite footage of the airfield from fifteen minutes ago. So she's figured out how to make the satellites go back in time? Cool. Buchanan's busy trying to hook up his large-screen TV to Chloe's computer, because you have to have a big-screen on this show, always. On the satellite footage, Kiefer directs her attention to the explosion he caused by blowing up the fuel tanker, an explosion which has brought absolutely nobody running. Airport must be abandoned at this time of night or something. Yep, nobody there at all. Just Kiefer, Audrey, and the tumbleweeds. Anyway, Chloe quickly finds the point in the footage where Henderson left the airport, and Kiefer hops behind the wheel, telling her to call back as soon as she catches up with Henderson on a live feed. Because apparently satellites have started covering all of Southern California in the past couple of hours. It's 1:05:56 as he and Audrey haul ass out of there. Every time he gets into that car, I expect him to say, "It's 106 miles to Chicago. We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses." Sadly, he never does. And no, I didn't have to look that up.
Audrey's trying not to pass out in the shotgun seat. To stay focused (and to answer a question I should have asked myself), she asks why Kiefer is certain that Henderson hasn't already destroyed the recording. Kiefer thinks Henderson is holding on to it for "insurance." He doesn't explain further, but the episode will in time.
Henderson is on the road in his latest stolen vehicle when his cell phone rings. It's Logan, with what is becoming an hourly inquiry from him: "Is Bauer dead?" Henderson says no, but the good news is that he's got the recording. Which, as Kiefer guessed, he hasn't destroyed. Logan asks what the problem is, and Henderson calmly explains, "Actually, I'm making sure there won't be any problems." He says he's keeping the recording for protection. Logan doesn't get it at first, but he finally asks, "Do you mean from me? That's absurd!" but of course his tone and body language are screaming, "Busted!" Henderson points out that it's a necessary precaution on his part, "As evidenced by Walt Cummings's 'suicide.'" "That was different," Logan protests, spawning an image in my mind of Logan picking Cummings up and hanging him by the neck with Cummings's own belt. Talk about suspension of disbelief, if you'll pardon the expression, and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. Logan tries to assure Henderson that they're cool, calling him "Chris" and everything, but Henderson isn't impressed. He says the recording will be kept in a safe place, and will only be made public "if I meet with some...accident." He hangs up, and Logan looks pissed. Dammit, now I have to assign a Secret Service detail to Henderson, he thinks.
Kiefer's on the road in pursuit of Henderson, and believe it or not Chloe has already located their quarry on satellite in real time. Kiefer thinks it's weird that Henderson's only about three quarters of a mile ahead of him on the road, but Chloe and Buchanan assure him that as soon as Kiefer rounds the hairpin turn ahead of him, he'll be able to see Henderson's car for himself. "Hold on," Kiefer says, then clamps the cell phone between his head and his shoulder, turns off his headlights, and takes the curve at top speed. Jesus, Kiefer, pick two of those things, but not all three at once! Amazingly, he doesn't kill them, and when he comes around the curve, Henderson is right up ahead as promised. "Got him," he says, and hangs up. He hits the gas and turns on the headlights now, for some reason. But Henderson doesn't have time to do more than squint at the sudden glare from his rearview mirror before Kiefer totally Grand Theft Autos him off the road and straight into the side of some kind of barn. Henderson's car crashes through the outer wall and comes to rest inside the structure.
Looks like Henderson's injured, but he doesn't spend much time licking his wounds before scrambling out of his car to take cover. And start shooting from it at Kiefer, who's just pulled up in his police car. Kiefer tells Audrey to get down and does the same himself, but as soon as the first salvo is over, he jumps out and heads into the barn. The two men exchange shots, and then Henderson is out of ammo. "Damn!" he hollers, just so Kiefer knows he's empty, and falls back. While limping away, he's reaching into his jacket for a fresh clip, but Kiefer stops his flight by shooting all around him. Henderson freezes, as a Henderson-shaped section of the far wall fails to topple to the ground. Kiefer makes him turn around, drop his empty gun, and raise his hands. "Do it or I will kill you," Kiefer says with even greater conviction than usual. But Henderson still has another card up his sleeve: "You kill me, Jack," he monotones, "Secretary Heller dies too... There's always a contingency plan, Jack, you know that." Especially when you have unlimited men. Henderson must be a great chess player, provided his opponent lets him keep putting captured pieces back on the board. As Audrey shakily comes into view behind Kiefer, Henderson says that his men have been tracking Heller by chopper ever since he left Not Camp David. And I'm sure the Secret Service had no problem with that unauthorized incursion whatsoever. Henderson continues that unless he contacts his men every fifteen minutes, they have orders to kill Heller. "Which means you've got about three minutes to save his life." Audrey rather inconveniently asks if Henderson's telling the truth, ignoring Kiefer's request for her to get back in the car. Without taking the gun off of Henderson at 1:10:04, he makes his prisoner step forward, put his hands behind his head, get on his knees, and handcuff himself. With Henderson thus secured, Kiefer's able to switch from gun to cell phone and get Chloe on the line. His instructions for her are threefold: patch him through to Heller's cell phone, pull up Heller's car on satellite by tracking his signal, and send the satellite image to Kiefer's PDA. Chloe barks a bunch of technobabble at Buchanan to make that happen, and adds "Sir" when she notices his hands aren't exactly dancing over the keyboard. I don't think that's why he was slow to obey, Chloe. She transfers Kiefer to Heller's cell phone.
Heller's on the road all by himself, looks like, and Kiefer tells him to look for a helicopter that may be tracking him. Heller leans out and spots the chopper, and asks who it is. "Henderson's men," Kiefer says, and that's enough for Audrey to look even more miserable than before. Heller asks if Henderson's bluffing. "He doesn't do that, sir," Kiefer says, never taking his eyes off Henderson's. By now, Chloe's gotten Heller's car on satellite, and she's sending the image of it to Kiefer's PDA. Meanwhile, the chopper following Heller's car has turned a spotlight on him as it tracks his progress. Heller looks down at the glowing red dot that's dancing across his chest now, reacting to it like I do when a bee lands on me. By which I mean "freezing in terror," not "crying like a toddler." His three minutes are up already? "Jack, they have a laser sight trained on me," he reports nervously. Without hanging up, Kiefer tells Henderson to stand up. "You give me the recording, I let you go," he says. "That's the deal." Henderson refuses. He's saying Kiefer's going to let him go, even as Heller's barking into his ear to do no such thing. "If I had listened to you in the first place," Heller ass-kisses, "none of this would be happening. This is my responsibility." ["Drink!" -- Sars] He orders Kiefer not to let them get away with it. "Tell Audrey I love her" is his sign-off. Kiefer asks him what he's doing, but the line is already dead. Audrey takes a step toward Kiefer in anguish. And Heller drives right off of the road, over a cliff, and into a lake a hundred or more feet below. I don't know how he could see to do that in the dead of night, but there it is. Dude must have eaten his carrots. The back end of the vehicle remains in sight for a moment, then sinks beneath the waves. The helicopter looks pissed.
But not as pissed as Kiefer. He yells at Chloe -- who's still on the line -- to confirm that Heller just drove into the lake. Chloe does. Kiefer drops the phone and rushes at Henderson, screaming, "Damn you!" Audrey is moaning, "Oh my God," because not only is her dad dead, her boyfriend completely forgot he has a gun. Kiefer is on top of Henderson, demanding, "How could you do this? This isn't about what you think is best for the country. It's about your greed for power. Today you have been responsible for killing an ex-president, David Palmer, and the Secretary of Defense, two real patriots." Henderson is just looking back up at him, creepily expressionless. Kiefer hauls him back to his feet and asks what happened to him. Henderson doesn't have an answer. So Kiefer puts his gun right in Henderson's face and demands the recording. "I don't have it," Henderson says. Kiefer screams, "Where is it?" Henderson says he's not telling, no matter what Kiefer does. Kiefer looks like he's seriously considering shooting Henderson in the face, and Audrey has an opinion on that subject. "Do it," she snarls from behind Kiefer, her voice angry and ugly. Kiefer works himself up to do just that, but at the last moment he changes his mind and fells Henderson with a savage sock to the mush. It's 1:13:47, and Henderson has again cheated death by not moving.
1:18:12. From his office, Logan makes a call on his cell phone and gets through to someone he addresses as Graham. "You need to cancel the action against Henderson immediately," he says. Heh. It's funny how right Henderson was. Graham's sitting in some fancy office with a few other guys, also in suits, who don't know when quitting time is. He's being played by Paul McCrane. If Nancy Allen and Kurtwood Smith show up in the five episodes, it's going to be a regular Robocop cast reunion. Graham wants to know why Henderson gets to live, and he's obviously not happy when Logan tells him that Henderson is hanging onto the recording as evidence. "There's only so much I can do," Logan says. "Apparently," Graham snarks, setting up the relationship between these two in a hurry. Logan defensively reminds Graham that they've both made mistakes today, and Graham concedes the point. Besides which, he's more worried about a bigger problem than Henderson: "At least he can be trusted to act rationally and in his own interest. Unfortunately, the same is not true of your wife." Graham somehow already knows about Aaron's plan to bring FLOTUS into the loop on Logan's evil activities. How, I don't know. Logan assures Graham that he's "taken steps to deal with Agent Pierce." But Graham is still worried about FLOTUS finding out too much. "You must silence her," he insists. Logan agrees, and says he'll take care of it. Yeah, good luck with that.
Meanwhile, FLOTUS is doing her Nancy Drew routine to try to figure out where Aaron is. If Nancy Drew used a highly ranked but unelected position to browbeat underpaid civil servants, that is. A young Secret Service agent is trying to explain to her that Aaron has been "transferred," and she's trying to find out what's really going on. Neither of them is really getting anywhere, so it's lucky for the young agent that a larger, older agent comes in and offers to explain everything. "This is a sensitive issue, ma'am," he says. "President Logan would like you to come with me." At 1:20:36, FLOTUS reluctantly complies.
As they walk down the hallway, FLOTUS tries to pump the agent for information on Aaron's whereabouts, but he's not answering any questions. Perhaps he's bucking for a promotion to Press Secretary. The agent calmly ushers FLOTUS into what looks like a library or something, then closes the door behind her, locking her inside. She tries to get out, but nothing doing. And all the phones in the room are shut off as well. Smart of them to pick a room without any windows.
Kiefer has just finished handcuffing the still-unconscious Henderson to a metal post in the barn. Audrey's looking like she's thinking it's still not too late to kill him. Kiefer's also on the phone with Chloe, confirming that Henderson really doesn't have the recording, just like he said. And no, Henderson isn't naked. Kiefer figures that his old boss must have handed it off to someone, which would explain why he wasn't very far ahead of Kiefer despite his head start from the airport. Chloe says she'll play back some more convenient satellite footage to find out when and where, and Kiefer hangs up. Now that he's off the phone, Audrey decides to get her own Kiefer on: "Jack, we're getting that recording and exposing Logan," she growls. "I don't care how far I have to go or what I have to do, do you understand, Jack?" How could he not? She's speaking his language, although he seems a little uncomfortable at hearing it come from her. Kiefer's cell phone rings. Chloe has already found the footage of Henderson rendezvousing with another car. "Sorry I didn't see it before." They're tracking the other car now, which has gone back to Van Nuys Airport. "Looks like the civilian side of the airfield," Buchanan clarifies, just in case we're prone to wonder why the airport would still be open after Kiefer blew part of it up. Buchanan adds that the car drove onto the tarmac, where the driver got out and boarded a plane that's waiting there. Kiefer points out that air traffic is grounded, but Buchanan says it doesn't look like a commercial flight and he'll see what he can find out about it. Chloe has one pertinent fact already, which is that it's going to take off soon. Kiefer asks if Curtis is still attached to CTU. Buchanan says he's taking orders from Hayes, "but I think we can trust him." Chloe says Curtis is 25 miles northwest of Kiefer's present location, and he's got a Tac team with him. Just cruising around, picking up chicks, I guess. Kiefer tells Buchanan to call Curtis and have him meet them at the barn so he can get Audrey and Henderson back to CTU. Chloe wonders if that's a good idea with Logan in control, but Kiefer pooh-poohs, "Curtis will be able to protect them." From the President. But it's not like anybody has a better plan anyway. Buchanan says he's calling Curtis now, and they hang up.
Kiefer tells Audrey what's happening, and she asks, "Why aren't you going now?" Obviously he doesn't want to leave her alone with Henderson, considering the likelihood that if he does that, one of them is going kill the other. But she's insisting that she'll be fine, and that Kiefer doesn't have time to wait around. "If you don't get that recording, my father will have died for nothing." At 1:23:22, he walks over to where Henderson left his clip and his gun. He loads the weapon and sets it down to Audrey, telling her not to interact with Henderson in any way when he wakes up. He adds that Henderson's guys are probably looking for him, and monitoring cell phone traffic to do it. "Which means you can't receive or make any calls unless they come from me." He hands her the phone he took off of Heller's dead Secret Service agent. "I don't feel right about this," he says, but she bravely assures him that she'll be fine. He touches her cheek with a hand that's still covered in her blood, and then hugs her tight, telling her he's sorry. She tells him to go. "Make sure you get that recording," she orders. He says he will, and heads out. It's 1:24:32.
We're back at 1:28:54, as Slime struts into Hayes's office. He's just gotten word that Bierko has regained consciousness in the CTU clinic, but they still have to wait for the doctors' word that he's well enough to be tortured. And he's got "better" news: the takeover by Homeland Security is now complete, he smirks proudly. Hayes noncommittally takes the folder he's giving her, and he's clearly hurt that she isn't more impressed with him. She apologizes for her distractedness and explains that she's still trying to figure out what's going on with Logan and Kiefer, since they reported Kiefer's location to the Prez over an hour ago. "We should have heard something by now," she frets, and complains that it's still not making any sense to her that they were given responsibility for finding Kiefer and then pulled off at the last minute. "We're out of that loop," Slime points out. The "Pay attention to MEEEEEE" is silent, of course.
Then a call comes in from Valerie, the blonde Homeland Security agent who was following Audrey last hour. By now, she's back on the CTU floor, and she's calling to report that Chloe's gone from her holding room. Slime demands to know how that could be, and clearly he hasn't noticed his keycard's absence in the last hour either. Valerie says that all she knows is that surveillance tapes show Chloe having a conversation with New Girl Shari right before she left, and that Shari let her go. So naturally a security guard is looming over Shari at her desk right now. Hayes orders Shari brought up to her office immediately, and tells Slime that they have to concentrate on finding Chloe. Slime figures that Chloe's probably not only in contact with Kiefer, but remotely using CTU resources to help him. She'll be trying to hide her activities, but Slime boasts, "I can trace her physical location by looking at the binaries." Okay, even I know that's bullshit. But Hayes unleashes him toward his work station.
That’s been enough time for Shari to be escorted into Hayes's office, and Hayes tells the guard to wait outside. Hayes gets right to it and asks why Shari let Chloe go. Shari quickly confesses, "She intimidated me." "She intimidated you?" Hayes asks incredulously, like if she threw down with Chloe there'd be anything left of her but half of a power suit and a couple of hairpins. Shari confesses that she's afraid of losing her job over a psych evaluation, and starts wandering off on that tangent until Hayes calls her back to the subject at hand, which is the question of why Chloe is helping Kiefer and Audrey. Shari relays Chloe's claim that Logan is framing Kiefer, and is himself involved in David Palmer's murder. "I mean, can you believe her?" Shari concludes. Amazingly, Hayes is looking like she just about could.
Logan, meanwhile, is just arriving at the locked door behind which FLOTUS is raging to be let out at 1:31:46. He tells the large agent, still stationed outside, to unlock the door. The agent obeys, and, disappointingly, FLOTUS doesn't immediately spill out into the hallway in a noisy heap. Instead, Logan calmly enters, ignoring FLOTUS's enraged demands to have the agent arrested and to know Aaron's whereabouts. He manages to calm her down a little, and they sit down together on a big red leather sofa as he explains that he had Aaron transferred back to Washington. FLOTUS still doesn't understand why, and she also doesn't know why she's locked up. "Because we need to talk," Logan says. That gets her attention. But now that he has it, he can't face her, and he gets up to pace the room. He does manage to open by saying he's been wanting to tell her something, but he hasn't, "because it's horrible and because it's ugly." FLOTUS is getting nervous now, and Logan rejoins her on the couch. "What happened to David Palmer wasn't supposed to happen... He got involved with something he shouldn't have." FLOTUS asks what he's saying, and Logan explains, "I never authorized his death." I should probably point out that I didn't either. Did you? Logan should really stop right there, but FLOTUS realizes that his statement means Logan knows who killed Palmer. Naturally, she wants to know how he knows. His face and voice are calm but his fingers are fidgeting as he tells her, "He works for me." FLOTUS is of course shocked and horrified, and lashes out at him. "Oh my God, you're involved in David's murder!" she cries. She was close friends with Palmer, you recall. Or she thought she was. Same thing, at this point.
She tries to get away from him, her hands clapped over her ears as she goes into a corner and wails, "Why are you telling me this?" Logan says she was about to figure it out herself, and that now she has to stop talking about it to everyone. "Do you realize how traumatic it would be for the country if people were to find out?" FLOTUS angrily mocks him for pretending to be worried about the country, and rightly so, but he insists that the resulting scandal would destroy the American people's faith in their government and the nation's credibility worldwide. Yeah, that sure would suck, all right. FLOTUS screams at him that the whole day has been a lie (yep) and that he makes her sick. He grabs her by the elbows and says he knows he made a terrible mistake. "But it's done." He just needs to know that FLOTUS will pipe down about everything. FLOTUS gives him a little speech about all the things she's forgiven him for, of which this will not be one. "I hate you. But I will keep my mouth shut. The people of this country don't deserve to suffer. You do, Charles. You do." Sounds like she's already got a plan. She opens the door, and the Secret Service agent blocks her exit. She looks back at Logan, who wordlessly gives the agent the go-ahead to let her pass. He stands there looking bummed. So am I. I wish I hadn't used that joke about him sleeping in the White Garage nine episodes ago. It's 1:35:48. And evil or no, I think the President could be forgiven if he were to loosen his tie a little at this hour.
1:40:14. Graham is leading a meeting of his associates in their fancy office. At 1:40 in the morning, mind you, so you know these guys probably aren't as classy as they look. Even though every man-jack of them is wearing a Bluetooth (or Bluetooth-lookalike) phone earpiece. One of the meeting's attendees, a dark-skinned man with an accent that I refuse to identify as "African," is getting a little antsy about all the loose ends. Graham nods, but says that nothing ever goes as planned: "I have never made a deal in my life that didn't feel like it was going to fall apart at the eleventh hour." Or the nineteenth, as the case may be. He tells them all to quit worrying. "We need to remember the strength we had eighteen months ago when we started this thing." He suggests that his questioner, Ron, think about his kids. "That's what I do when I need to get focused." He thinks about Ron's kids? Weird. His earpiece rings, and because the tiny little thing clipped to the side of his head doesn't have caller ID, he answers the President of the United States with a terse, "Yeah?" Logan informs Graham that FLOTUS has been dealt with, and that he threatened to send her back to Vermont if she doesn't behave. Graham points out that Logan was going to do that earlier today, but changed his mind when she found out the truth. "What if she 'finds out the truth' again?" Graham asks. What, there's more truth? How much more truth is my suspension of disbelief supposed to take, anyway? Logan points out that he's been handling FLOTUS all day, and Graham gets all friendly-like as he agrees that the Prez has been doing a good job. "We were just talking about how you've had to be on the front lines through all this. How you've had to get your hands dirty while we could just watch from a safe distance. You've earned our trust," he says, and adds that he knows Logan will do what needs to be done about his wife. Logan looks like he's about to respond, but he just hangs up again. He's getting good at that. That was some nice stuff Graham said, even though I'm pretty sure it all just meant that he's going to have FLOTUS killed soon.
It's 1:42:23, and Audrey is still sitting on the fertilizer bags in the barn to Henderson's gun. She's looking mighty pale. Disheveled, even. Henderson has woken up, and quickly ascertains that with the handcuffs chaining him to a metal pipe, he's not going anywhere at the moment. So he gets right to work on the only tool currently at his disposal, which of course is Audrey's head. He apologizes for getting her dad involved. "I've known Secretary Heller for a very long time," he says. "He's an honorable man." He checks his watch and, as if the idea is just occurring to him, remarks, "It's ten to twelve minutes since..." Well, no, it's thirty, but maybe he thinks Audrey doesn't know that. He starts speculating that Heller might have survived in an air pocket or something, and his manner gets all urgent as he tries to convince her that her father might still be alive. Audrey obviously wants to believe it, but she considers the source and snaps, "Stop it." Henderson fakes a near-panic, straining against his handcuff and telling Audrey that she has to call someone to help her father. With her hand on the gun, she loudly sputters at him to stop talking. And then she picks up the cell phone. And then she realizes what she was about to do, and she picks up the gun instead, pointing it across the barn at Henderson's face. "What do you think, I'm stupid?" she sneers. "You want me to make that call so your people can find me." Henderson says they're going to be found anyway, and that he's only trying to help Heller. And then he lays on the guilt, insisting that her father's drowning in a car and she isn't doing anything about it. She gets up and stomps toward him with the gun. "Not another word," she grits. I thought this would never happen, but I'm actually a little scared of Audrey right now. And it's not just the hair.
It's 1:44:12, and Kiefer is just pulling his police car up near a chain link fence at Van Nuys Airport. From his vantage point, through his little telescope, he can see the passenger airliner parked on the tarmac, while people climb the stairs to board the plane. I'd say it's a Boeing 727 if I had any idea about these things, which I don't. We'll just go with 727. Chloe calls his cell phone, and Kiefer describes what we can see, which is that all of the security surrounding the plane on the ground suggests that it's some kind of diplomatic flight. Well, that and all the limos with little flags of foreign countries waving from the hoods. Chloe's got more urgent news, which is that the helicopter that dogged Heller is now on its way to where Audrey's trying to shut up Henderson. That sounds bad for Audrey. But at least Buchanan isn't letting her swing in revenge for screwing him over earlier. That guy's a class act. Kiefer asks where Curtis is now, and Buchanan chimes in to say that the Handsome Black Agent might not make it in time. Kiefer tells them to upload their satellite images to his PDA, update Curtis, and wait for him to get back to them. He hangs up and starts dialing.
Back at the barn, Heller's dead guard's cell phone is ringing. Audrey answers it, and Kiefer tells her to get the hell out of there before Henderson's latest batch of henchmen arrives. Because you never know, these latest guys might actually live longer than mayflies. Audrey doesn't want to leave their prisoner alone, but Kiefer says they don't have a choice. Audrey disagrees: "I have the gun and I can kill him." Dude, he's sitting right there. Rude much? Kiefer promises that Curtis will get there in time to track Henderson down, but Audrey so isn't down with leaving the man who killed her father. Even as she's saying this, she notices that the helicopter is setting down outside. Not a good place for you to be right now, Auds. Kiefer tells her to listen, but she hangs up. She charges over to Henderson, the gun leveled at his face, panting, teeth gritted. He just looks up at her, waiting. And then she wimps out and goes right past him. No wonder Henderson has stayed alive so long, with that Jedi whammy he always seems to put on people who are about to kill him. He's like that snake from The Jungle Book or something.
Three bad guys come into the part of the barn where Henderson is, now that Audrey's out of sight and trying to escape through a locked back door at 1:45:56. Looks like she's trapped. Henderson orders his men to free him, then tells them, "Heller's daughter is somewhere in this building. Kill her. Then get back here and we'll deal with Bauer." But...but...what about helping Heller? He wasn't serious about that? Gosh, I feel so used. Henderson's men leave him alone so they can hunt down their quarry, and so that she can double back and shoot their still-unarmed boss with his own gun. Not that that happens. Instead, Audrey holes up behind some hay bales, the gun positioned so she can try and defend her little bolthole. Suddenly a hand claps over her mouth, and the entire orchestra jumps. But it's only Curtis, who has arrived in the nick of time. And very quietly. He tells her to stay down, then makes some hand signals as the three henchman approach. I have to learn those signals, because they make armored CTU agents pop up from behind the hay bales and blow all three bad guys away. That's four teams you've lost now, Henderson. It's beginning to seem careless of you. Henderson himself is arrested, his life probably saved by the fact that he was the only bad guy without a gun. Curtis says they're all going back to CTU, and asks Audrey if she's okay. She says she is. For some reason, Curtis doesn't ask why Audrey's arm looks like she stuck it up to her shoulder into a Sam Raimi movie. She sits down to call Kiefer on her dad's dead guard's cell phone.
Kiefer's still watching his pet plane when he answers Audrey's call and demands, "What's happening?" Audrey explains. Kiefer looks relieved, but it doesn't really come across over the phone Audrey says she tried to kill Henderson, but couldn't. Kiefer says the only thing that matters is that she's safe. Especially considering what happened to the last person who tried to kill Henderson but couldn't. Besides Kiefer himself, of course. Kiefer asks if she's okay, and she sounds more convincing than she looks when she assures him that she is. So he asks for Curtis. Audrey hands Curtis the phone at 1:47:45. Kiefer tells Curtis to have Audrey brought back to CTU medical, where she'll be nice and safe in the bed right to Bierko's. He also wants Curtis to tell Hayes not to let anyone have access to Henderson. Curtis wisely points out that only half of those requests is likely to be honored. "As far as Henderson goes, CTU is more interested in apprehending you than taking your advice." Kiefer doesn't really care. Does Curtis even realize how much 'splainin' he's going to have to do when he gets back to CTU? Whatever. Kiefer's call is to Chloe and Buchanan, who seem vaguely relieved that Audrey is safe. Since their last conversation, Chloe has figured out that Kiefer's theory is correct; the plane he's looking at is a chartered diplomatic flight, and it's scheduled to leave before the end of the episode. Kiefer tells her to find out who's on board so they can figure out who's got the recording. Chloe says it'll be tricky to hack into the State Department servers, but she'll try. Kiefer also wants Buchanan to try to stall the plane so Kiefer can figure out how to get on it. After he hangs up, he spots another fuel tanker driving past. It's probably doing double duty after Kiefer blew up the other one. Kiefer gets out of his police car, throwing on his man-purse as he goes. He's going to disguise himself as jet fuel? No, his plan's a little more prosaic. He hides behind a car as the tanker drives past towards the plane, then he dashes up behind it and scampers up the ladder onto the top of the tank, where he squishes himself flat. It's 1:49:23, and it looks like Kiefer's life is going to be a first-person-sneaker instead of the usual first-person-shooter for a few minutes.
And now it's 1:53:45. Kiefer's fuel tanker is passing through security, a process that involves identification cards and soldiers inspecting the undercarriage with mirrors. Lucky for Kiefer they don't turn those mirrors on the overcarriage. Although with the way he's pressing himself down into the metal, he probably thinks they'd miss him anyway. The truck gets the all-clear, and Kiefer rides it onto the tarmac. As it drives past a parked luggage truck, Kiefer leaps onto the top of that vehicle, unseen or unheard by anyone. Or maybe they're all just too diplomatic to say anything. And then Kiefer's cell phone rings. Maybe this would have been a good time to put it on vibrate. No one hears it anyway, with all the other noise going on. The caller is Buchanan, saying that all of their efforts to stall the plane's takeoff (whatever those efforts might have entailed) have come to naught. Kiefer acknowledges, and asks if Chloe's got the passenger list yet. She doesn't; she's still hacking. End of call. Kiefer looks around and notices the conveyor belt conveying suitcases up into the plane's cargo hold. He's going to disguise himself as a Samsonite?
Slime's been busy since last we saw him. He's scowling at a workstation that appears to be connected to the State Department somehow. Much as Chloe is. A fresh window pops up and he exults, "There you are!" He immediately calls Hayes in her office, and tells her that Chloe's trying to access the State Department through a CTU node. He starts technobabbling about how he found her, but Hayes is less interested in his kung-fu than in Chloe's actual location. It's only a matter of seconds before Slime has figured out that Chloe is at Cabana Buchanan. What's more, a Tac team is less than seven minutes away from there, and Slime is dispatching them now. "Good," says Hayes, and hangs up with an order to keep her posted. But now that the thrill of the hunt has passed, her doubts from before are clearly returning. At 1:56:04, she picks up her cell phone and dials.
She quickly gets a hold of Novick at Not Camp David, who doesn't appear to be doing much besides wandering around and looking at his watch. They make a little small talk, and then Hayes gets to her point. She recaps that they were taking orders from Vice President Gardner until about two hours ago, at which point President Logan gave the order to arrest Kiefer, "based on evidence he was unwilling to share with me." Novick already knows about that, and I love how the show freely admits that it was just fucking with us about the whole Vice President Misdirection subplot. Hayes asks if Novick has seen the evidence, and he stammers that he hasn't. "Who has seen it?" Hayes asks, and Novick doesn't have a good answer for that. "I don't have a good answer for that," he says. Hayes goads Novick about not being in the loop, but Novice says there's not really a loop right now: "The President is keeping his own counsel at the moment." "That's a first," Hayes scoffs. Get out of my chair, lady. Novick basically doesn't have anything else to say aside from, "It's been a strange night." He sells the hell out of it, though, complete with a dramatic pause and a shifty glance from side to side. It's like he knows that three minutes before the hour, something should really be happening. But Hayes has heard enough, and she ends the call. She sits down in front of her computer and types. We can't see the monitor, but she must be looking up the number for Cabana Buchanan, because that's who she calls.
Buchanan answers the call at 1:57:47, and the voice that comes out of the speaker is brief and businesslike: "This is Karen Hayes. You have less than seven minutes to get Chloe out of there." Buchanan tries to play dumb, but Hayes convinces them she's for real by parroting back the technobabble that Slime used to trace them. Buchanan picks up the handset to ask why she's warning them. Hayes starts to tell her story about how nothing has made sense until she heard Chloe's accusations against Logan through Shari. But then she spots a guy that we've never seen before climbing the steps to her office, and says that she has to go. Ominous. End of call. Buchanan tells Chloe they have to leave, and starts unplugging shit, starting with the TV they've been using as a big-screen. Chloe doesn't want to leave without finding the passenger list for Kiefer, and she keeps working despite Buchanan's protests that she'll be arrested. And then she goes split-screen up in the left corner. Kiefer's in the bottom half, trying to think of a way to impersonate a boarding pass. FLOTUS pours herself a nice big flagon of red wine in the FLOTUSuite. That should react nicely with her crazy pills. People from God knows where continue boarding that diplomatic flight. Audrey rides back towards CTU with Curtis and, presumably, Henderson. Logan looks evil. Buchanan keeps unplugging shit.
And then Kiefer's full-screen again, at 1:59:02. He and the man-purse climb down from the luggage truck, behind which he hides as he watches the last of the passengers climb the steps into the plane. At the other end of the aircraft, yellow-vested baggage handlers are loading the last of the suitcases into the hold. A limo flying cute little British flags leaves the tarmac. The steps into the plane's cabin fold up and in, and it doesn't look like Kiefer's getting in that way. But the baggage handlers are getting a little sloppy in their hurry to get the plane off the ground. Spotting an opening, Kiefer raises his hood, makes sure his holstered gun is well-hidden under the hem of his jacket, and makes his move. Which, believe it or not, is to grab a couple of suitcases off a passing truck and just walk them up the conveyor belt like he belongs there. It's the suitcases that really hold the entire plan together, of course. Sure, somebody could glance over and see a guy they don't recognize with his hood up and no yellow vest, but if he's carrying suitcases they'll figure he belongs. But nobody takes any notice of him, and a moment later he's holding onto a cargo net, bracing for takeoff . He looks distinctly nervous as the baggage door shuts, sealing him inside. About here is where I'd start looking around for occupied pet carriers, because if there are live animals in there with him it means he's a lot less likely to freeze or asphyxiate in an unpressurized hold. Plus he could use the company. It's 2:00:00.