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Kiefer learns that the Veep is planning a nuclear retaliation against Mideastia for his crappy drone landing. This is too aggressive even for Kiefer, so he resolves to find Gredenko and Fayed in the hour before that can happen. Luckily, CTU is able to trace a phone call from Gredenko to a guy who's been using his Rain Man brother to get through nuclear facility firewalls. So then Kiefer uses Rain Man to set a trap for Gredenko. He fells really bad about it, though. At the White House Bunker, Karen convinces Sandra Palmer to screw the risks and let the doctor wake Wayne up so that they can get the Veep back on his leash. As for the question of whether Nadia was set up, a tech from Division -- who has some shady history with Doyle -- finds proof on the drone pilot's computer that she's innocent. He acts all sketchy about it, secretly handing it over to Doyle, who secretly hands it over to Morris. It's complicated, but when it's all over, Doyle knows who his real enemy is, and it isn't Milo. Milo's too busy putting the moves on Nadia anyway. When Gredenko finds himself in Kiefer's clutches, he offers a deal: Fayed in exchange for amnesty and a promise not to be returned to Russia. While Kiefer's pondering that, Wayne manages to wake up without dying, and calls off the Veep's nuclear strike from his hospital bed. But the Veep's not ready to give up, and resolves to have Wayne removed from power. Maybe he'll catch a break and somebody else will come along to blow Wayne up again. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Yet another episode of 24 begins with people cleaning up the mess that was made at the end of the last one. In this case, the terrorist drone pilot that Doyle and Kiefer shot is being wheeled out of the building on a gurney. Kiefer follows him out, yelling at the medic to keep the pilot alive, since he's their only link to Gredenko. As for Kiefer himself, he seems to have recovered from any ill effects that might have lingered from his being blown up less than ninety minutes ago. Doyle comes out to tell Kiefer about the consequences of his crappy landing, but Kiefer doesn't seem too worried about it for now. He just tells Doyle to have his men go through all of the pilot's computers. And since the medic calls over to say that the pilot just died, that's all they're going to be getting from him. Kiefer mutters a half-hearted "dammit" and dials his cell phone. When he gets through to Buchanan at CTU, they touch base on their respective non-progress, and Buchanan breaks the news that, as a result of the dozen or so firefighters Kiefer killed, the Veep is now determined to nuke Mideastia. Kiefer is stunned: "What's he trying to do, start World War III? That'll be seen as an act of aggression against the entire Middle East." And if Kiefer thinks you're being too aggressive, just how far off the reservation have you gone? Buchanan says that they're just going to have to find Gredenko and Fayed before the strike, which is scheduled to occur in an hour away. Kiefer grumbles and hangs up.
Somewhere else, Gredenko is trying to reach the pilot on his cell phone, but there's no answer. You'd think CTU would hear a ringing cell phone at their end and be more than a little interested to talk to Gredenko, but no. They're all too busy gossiping. Gredenko goes inside the parked panel truck that's serving as his and Fayed's temporary base, and reports to Fayed that his pilot is incommunicado. Without taking his eyes off Fox News (Fair. Balanced. Beloved by terrorists), Fayed says that's because the pilot got busted. After all, the destruction of San Francisco is ten minutes overdue, and there's nothing about it on TV. Fayed doesn't realize that this could be because Roger Ailes is trying to decide whether a terrorist-destroyed San Francisco is good news or bad news, but in any case, Fayed's correct in assuming that the detonation never occurred. Gredenko says it's okay, because the pilot doesn't know where they are, and they still have two nukes to continue their operations. In fact, the two suitcases are sitting right there on the floor. They make kind of a sad display after the four Fayed was carting around a mere eleven hours ago. Fayed agrees; he shoves Gredenko up against the wall and sticks the muzzle of his gun under Gredenko's jaw. "I have the bombs!" he angrily corrects. Gredenko coolly reminds Fayed that he still needs Gredenko to get the targets. Fayed reluctantly lets Gredenko go. Gredenko pulls out his cell phone to call someone else.
The call rings through to the cell phone of a white guy making a depressing little scrambled-egg dinner in a depressing little kitchen, while another man sits and waits at the kitchen table. The guy with the phone, a Mark Hauser, isn't happy to be talking to Gredenko. It seems that he sold Gredenko some kind of access to his employer's something or other, but now it's not working any more, so Gredenko needs fresh protocols. With a guilty look at the guy he's making dinner for, Mark puts up a weak protest. But he quickly caves and says it's going to take a half-hour or more. Gredenko says that he'll be there in forty minutes, and hangs up. Mark returns to the kitchen, where the man sitting at the table announces, "I hongry." Oh, I see how it is. This makes me very, very worried. Mark scoops dinner out of the skillet onto his brother's plate, and his brother complains that it contains red peppers. "I don't eat red food," he Rain Mans. As stressed out as he must be right now, Mark swallows his temper and agrees to take the peppers out. "You take care of me, Mark. You always take care of me," his brother Lennys. For a developmentally disabled character, he certainly is astute about how quickly the show needs him to set up the dynamic between the two brothers. While Mark's de-peppering dinner, he asks his brother Brady to get on the computer and get some files from his office mainframe. Brady gets up and goes to the laptop without asking what files, but that's why you have an autistic-savant brother in the first place, so you don't have to worry about the details. Mark stands and watches him. Doesn't he have some peppers to fish out?
At 8:07:32, Gredenko and three of his men hop into his Range Rover and drive off to visit Mark and Brady.
At CTU, Milo's still doing nothing but sitting and staring at his monitor, which is still tuned to Nadia TV. It's not like anything's happening in Nadia's interrogation room, either, what with her still being cuffed to the chair. Maybe that's why Milo stopped trying to type commands on his keyboard. Buchanan comes along to let Milo know that Nadia's going to be getting the full enemy combatant treatment. Milo is still having trouble getting his brain around the idea that Nadia is a spy, which is surprising, because that seems to be the only thing he's been working on for most of an hour. Buchanan says that the evidence sure doesn't look good for Nadia. Before he can say anything even more obvious, Chloe calls Buchanan over to report that she's conveniently been monitoring their entire Gredenko-related watch list, and that allowed them to flag Gredenko's call to Mark from a few minutes ago. She's pulled up Mark's file and found out that he works for an energy company, and although the call was scrambled, they have Hauser's address. Why not have someone stop by? It's not like they have anything else to go on right now anyway.
Back at the switching station that served as the drone pilot's virtual cockpit, Doyle is called in to speak with one of the forensic technicians. The tech for some reason asks everyone else to clear out at 8:08:55. Once he's alone with Doyle, he shows him a small computer chip that he found in one of the drone pilot's computers. Ignoring the obvious question of how he was able to find such a tiny but vital component in such a large collection of computers in so short a time, the tech gets straight to the point and explains what the chip is for: apparently, it allowed the drone pilot to remotely breach CTU security. And Nadia? She had absolutely nothing to do with it. Doyle makes an oopsie face. This of course raises the question of why the tech wanted to talk to Doyle alone. That question is quickly answered when the tech gloats about the position this puts Doyle in, since Doyle was such an asshole about Nadia earlier. "But I'm an asshole about everything!" Doyle protests. Actually, he says he was just following standard protocol, but the tech warns Doyle that this is going to bite him in the ass if and when Nadia sues. Doyle gets real quiet, but the tech says he has Doyle's back: "You took care of me in Denver and I still owe you for that." He hands Doyle the chip and says, "We're even now." That very second, an oblivious Kiefer comes in to say that they have a new lead on Gredenko, and that he's taking a team with him to follow up. Doyle says that he has to stay behind to "keep processing," and Kiefer couldn't care less as he heads out. Doyle looks at the chip in his hand and closes his fist over it, his expression serious. I don't hear any crunching. It's 8:10:23.
8:14:35. Wayne's not dead yet, but Sandra's watching him through the operating-room door like he might as well be. Karen comes up and asks how she's doing. Sandra hugs her, spouting clichés about how she can't believe it's happening, it doesn't feel real, blah blah. You think they knew each other before, or is Sandra just a really open person? Karen gets right to the point, saying that the Veep "is about to launch a nuclear strike against the Middle East." The entire region? Worse, he's got the whole Cabinet on his side, and nobody is listening to Karen, the sole voice of reason. That might be because she's loitering outside the operating room instead of doing her job right now, but whatever. Karen says that Wayne was "reaching out" to Middle Eastern governments (although he was actually just threatening them differently), and that the Veep is going against Wayne's wishes. To her credit, Sandra is quick enough on the uptake to realize that Karen wants Sandra's consent to have Wayne woken up so that he can put a stop to the Veep's madness. Sandra's resistant to the idea, but Karen insists as gently as she can that it's for the sake of the country. And, you know, the sakes of all the other countries that the Veep plans to melt, of course. Sandra complains that she doesn't want to lose another brother. Oh, why not? It's never more than a matter of time anyway on this show. Plus, if Wayne dies, Sandra gets to be elected President , right? Seriously, with all the POTUSes this show has had, the only ones who actually won contested elections are Palmers. Karen insists that Wayne's in charge of the country, and that Sandra's the only one "who can give him the chance to do what he believes in...Ask yourself what Wayne would want you to do." Sandra rolls over and agrees to talk to the doctor: "And God forgive me if I'm wrong." For what it's worth, I already do.
Over at the Battle Bridge, the Veep is receiving a briefing from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that's all about how totally awesome it's going to be in forty minutes when the U.S. finally gets to nuke another country for the first time in sixty years. They're all but Beavising "Fire! Fire! Fire!" The Veep wallows briefly in his gloriousness, and then asks Tom for damage and casualty estimates. Tom's busy feeling sorry for himself, so he has to be nudged out of a mini-coma of his own before he can start reading from a binder. He's barely begun his desultory recitation when Lisa enters to hand the Veep a note. Whatever the note says, the Veep reacts strongly and excuses himself from the room, leaving poor Tom to continue giving his briefing to the Veep's empty seat: "Should the enemy mount a response, the potential does exist for the U.S. to be drawn into a conflict in which its troops..."
But the Veep has no time to think about U.S. troops right now, because he and Lisa have gone into the anteroom so he can bitch about how outrageous it is that the doctors are planning to wake Wayne up. Wow, word travels fast in the White House Bunker. Unless it's about a couple of guys building a bomb six inches away from a tied-up Chief of Staff, of course. The Veep suspects that Karen is behind this. Lisa says she only heard about it from her source at the operating room. Which has, like, four people in it, if you count Wayne. I don't think he's Lisa's source. The Veep picks up the phone and demands to speak to Wayne's doctor.
Karen and Sandra are now inside the operating room, where the doctor is making ready to start waking Wayne up. He medibabbles at them for a while about how unpredictable this all is, until the intercom bleeps that he's got a call from the Veep. "What are you going to tell him?" Karen asks. "The truth," the doctor lies.
The doctor picks up the phone on the wall and is actually rather weaselly at first. But the Veep soon accuses him of trying to wake up Wayne so that Sandra can "subvert [the Veep's] policy agenda." The doctor tries to not-my-problem the policy issue, but the Veep accuses him of agreeing with Sandra's politics and risking Wayne's life in the process, and threatens, "So if you don't stop, I will compel you to stop." As politely as possible, the doctor invites the Veep to get bent: "I am required to follow the wishes of Sandra Palmer. You're free to take up your concerns with her." And while the Veep may be fully prepared to trigger a global conflict, he knows better than to wade into a verbal scrap with Sandra Palmer. He simply makes dark threats with regard to what he'll do to the doctor if anything happens to Wayne. The doctor says he understands, and hangs up. And gets back to work.
It's 8:21:16 as Kiefer and his team quietly take up position outside Mark and Brady's house. Mark helpfully glances out the front window to give Kiefer a nice clear look at him. Like Mark can see anything outside with the lights on inside anyway. Kiefer signals his men to fan out around the house. Chloe sends Mark's file photo to Kiefer's cell phone, and fortunately it's one that was taken in the past five minutes, by the look of it. Satisfied with the positive ID, Kiefer gives the order to move in on the house.
Inside, Mark hears a neighbor's dog start to bark, and reaches for a handy shotgun he keeps leaning against one corner of the room, just as all households with a developmentally disabled member should do. Kiefer bursts in the front door, sees an armed man in the hallway, and shoots him in the back of the leg. Another agent gets Mark in the torso. After that, a guy who was prepared to go down shooting gets cooperative in a fast hurry. "Do what they say, Brady!" Mark yells as the agents get him into a chair. Brady would already be doing that, if they'd been telling him to rock back and forth in his chair in a panic saying Mark's name over and over. Kiefer takes one look at Brady and makes an instant diagnosis. He orders Brady taken into the living room at the far end of the house. Brady is hustled off, still repeating Mark's name the whole way. A CTU medic reports that Mark needs to get to a hospital quickly. Kiefer says that there's no time; he wants Mark stabilized right here, right now. He heads into the living room with Brady and asks the agent in there for a little alone time.
Sitting down across from Brady, Kiefer goes into gentle mode, which I'm surprised to see he has. He assures Brady that everything will be okay. Brady wants to see his brother. This will be Brady's litany for the remainder of the episode. Kiefer agrees, but says he needs to ask Brady some questions first. Brady says he's not allowed: "Mark says not to talk to strangers." Kiefer smiles that he's not a stranger, but a police officer, so he's okay to talk to. It's when you don't talk to Kiefer that he gets violent. Kiefer asks what Brady was doing on the computer when they came in. "Getting files," Brady answers. Kiefer asks what kind. Brady doesn't know, but when he rattles off a stream of fluent technobabble, Kiefer adjusts his diagnosis in a hurry. He says he's going to talk to Mark, and then Brady can see him. "You're doing great, Brady," he assures him with a fatherly pat on the leg, and heads down the hallway to go be a lot less nice to Mark. He accuses Mark of having used his brother to get information to Gredenko: "Now he's in a lot of trouble." Mark insists that Brady didn't know he was doing anything wrong, but Kiefer says that Brady will go down for treason unless Kiefer intervenes. Because he's the only person in the entire federal law enforcement community who can spot a lack of competence to stand trial. "Now, I'll help your brother," Kiefer says, "because you and I both know he didn't understand what he was doing. But you're going to have to give me Gredenko." Mark says that he was selling Gredenko security specs for the Edgemont Nuclear Power Plant. Wait a minute -- since when do you need security specs in the first place when you plan to hit something with a nuclear bomb? Is Gredenko worried that the drone won't be able to punch in the proper security code at the front gate, which will in turn result in the detonation leaving intact several bricks of Cooling Tower 2?
Arriving back at CTU with all of the drone pilot's computer equipment, Doyle introduces his buddy from Denver -- who turns out to be named Johnson, and is on loan from Division -- to Buchanan. Johnson says that they're still working on the stuff, and will continue back here at base. He heads off with the rest of the techs to do so. Doyle asks if Buchanan has gotten any info from Nadia. Buchanan says no, and wonders why Doyle is asking. "Just curious," Doyle demurs. Milo comes over to report that Kiefer's calling in with Mark in custody. Buchanan leaves the two old nemeses staring at each other, until Doyle turns and walks off. Ooh, tense. Did you notice how nobody mentioned the Nadia-exonerating computer chip Johnson found? Maybe they just forgot.
Buchanan takes a call from Kiefer and quickly learns what Mark was planning to sell to Gredenko. Kiefer explains that now he's going to use Mark's brother to go through with the transaction, and grab Gredenko when he shows up in twenty minutes. He doesn't mention that Brady's not exactly able to give informed consent to something like this. He hangs up at 8:24:06 before Buchanan can ask.
8:28:22. Brady sits in his living room chair, doing this Verbal Kint thing with his right hand. He doesn't notice Mark's gurney being wheeled past the open doorway. Not very smart of him. Kiefer returns to the room. Since he's been gone, Brady has realized that if the police are there, it means that Mark did something wrong. "He's made some mistakes," Kiefer admits, "but he's helping us fix them." Brady understands mistakes; he makes a lot, he says. "And you try to fix them, right?" Kiefer says with a friendly little smile. He says that's what Mark's trying to do, but that he needs Brady's help. Which means it's time for them to go talk to him. Brady's relief is short-lived when he sees Mark laid out on a gurney in the front doorway. He runs to his brother, freaking out. Mark assures Brady that it's not as bad as it looks (which, I'm no doctor, but it looks to me like they made him hang out on his hallway floor for a while as he was bleeding out), and that he's going to the hospital now. Brady, of course, wants to come along, but Mark instructs Brady to stay behind and follow Kiefer's instructions to the letter. "Who takes care of you, Brady?" he manipulates. Brady says that Mark does, and Mark tells Brady to trust him. "[Kiefer] will take care of you," he promises. Wow, he handed off that football with a quickness, didn't he? Remember, Kiefer: no red food. Mark tells Kiefer that he's ready to make the call, and Kiefer starts dialing Mark's cell phone.
The GredenkoMobile is tooling along an empty street at 8:31:20 when Gredenko's phone rings. Mark manages not to sound all shot up as he explains that he has what Gredenko needs, but that he's been called in to work. And if he doesn't show up at his office in ten minutes, the protocols will be changed, and they'll have to download them all over again. Gredenko isn't too hot on the idea of picking the goods up from Brady (whose name and condition he seems to know off the top of his head), but since he doesn't have time to wait, he tells Mark to have Brady meet him at the parking lot across the street. How many times have Mark and Brady had Gredenko over, anyway? Mark finishes the call, relays the meeting place to Kiefer, and gets wheeled off to the hospital. Brady stresses some more, but Kiefer cools him down with a promise to take care of him, and an urgent request to listen. Brady agrees, because he doesn't yet know that Kiefer tells everyone to listen to him.
CTU. At 8:32:42, Johnson walks up to Milo and reintroduces himself. Apparently, they met in Denver as well. Milo gives a left-handed handshake like he's been wearing that sling for weeks instead of hours. Johnson says he's heard that Milo's friends with Nadia; that gets Milo's attention in a hurry. He tells Milo what he found at the switching station (that is, proof that Nadia's innocent). Milo asks where the proof is now. "Ask Doyle," says Johnson, acting the reluctant snitch as he says that he gave Doyle the evidence and it still hasn't been logged in. As expected, Milo loses it. Seeing Doyle and Buchanan coming out of the Situation Room together, Milo struggles out of his sling and heads over there meaning to do some one-handed violence. Fortunately for Doyle, Buchanan and a CTU security guard put a rapid end to the sad little slap fight. Milo accuses that Doyle has evidence of Nadia's innocence. Stunned, Buchanan asks Doyle if it's true. "Yeah," Doyle admits. Milo accuses Doyle of burying it to cover his own ass. Right then, Morris comes running over with the chip in an evidence bag, calling Milo off by saying that Doyle gave it to him ten minutes ago. Which makes sense, I guess, since Morris is probably Doyle's best friend now. Buchanan wonders why Doyle didn't mention this earlier. Doyle says it was from an "unreliable source": "I wanted to make sure it was real before I submitted it for evidence." Morris confirms that it is indeed real, and that Nadia is innocent. Buchanan promises to release Nadia after confirming this, and he and Morris take off, leaving a very embarrassed Milo facing Doyle alone. As for Johnson, he's just standing in the middle of the floor where Milo left him, blankly watching what he's wrought. He doesn't seem remotely embarrassed or worried, and isn't even trying to look inconspicuous. Milo chokes out an apology to Doyle. Doyle is surprisingly menschy about it, saying that it wasn't Milo's fault. He even claps him on the shoulder and tells him to forget about it. You can tell he's sincere because he claps Milo's good shoulder instead of the one that took a bullet five hours ago. And then Doyle walks right over into Johnson's face and growls, "You have screwed with the wrong guy for the last time, pal." Johnson smirks inscrutably. I'm very confused about his goals and motivations at first, but then I decide he's just one of those people who like to stir shit up for no reason. Which is a kind of progress on this show, because characters like this used to be called "women." It's 8:34:35.
Sandra is still in the operating room waiting for Wayne to wake up when Karen comes in with paper coffee cups for both of them. As you do, when you're standing around in an operating room. They talk boringly for a moment, until the doctor comes in to report that Wayne's brain is swelling, and that if it continues, it could cause permanent damage. He suggests reinducing the coma, but Sandra refuses, counting on the chance that Wayne will be okay and stop the Veep: "I know Wayne would want to see this through." Unless he dies, which it looks like he's about to do. Wayne starts crashing, and Karen bustles Sandra out so that the medical staff can do their thing on him. At first, I was worried about Walid, sitting in a hospital alone while Sandra is off attending to Wayne. But I think when Walid hears about how Sandra is managing Wayne's care, he'll be glad to have her as far away from him as possible.
Kiefer looks like he's fighting a headache as he waits in the Hauser living room with Brady, who's watching Fox News. Talk about your target audience. A CTU agent comes in to say that the teams are ready, and to quietly doubt whether this is such a good idea. Kiefer says that Brady just needs to get Gredenko out of his car. "We don't have another option," he says guiltily, and the agent leaves the room. Kiefer gives Brady a CTU earpiece, explaining that it will let them talk to each other. "But we don't want Mr. Gredenko to know that you can hear me," Kiefer explains slowly, "so we have to pretend that you can't." Brady says he gets it. Kiefer hands him a memory card and tells him where he's supposed to wait for Gredenko: "That's your position." Brady absorbs this little vocabulary lesson, and it's time to go. Kiefer shepherds Brady outside, reassuring him the whole way and sending him to his position. "I'm gonna go to my position," Brady agrees, and heads across the street. Watching him go, Kiefer hides in the bushes and orders his teams to call in. Charlie team has the job of getting Gredenko with a tranquilizer dart, while teams Alpha and Bravo are in charge of shooting everyone else. Besides Brady, that is. "Do whatever you have to to protect this kid," says Kiefer. Did I mention that Brady looks to be in his mid-to-late thirties? That's not condescending at all, Kiefer.
Brady reaches his position at 8:46:30. Kiefer beeps into Brady's earpiece and confirms that they can hear each other. Brady asks again when he can see Mark, and Kiefer promises he will as soon as this is over. The GredenkoMobile rolls into sight and up to the curb where Brady's waiting. Gredenko and the driver get out, and Gredenko takes the memory card from Brady and plugs it right into the laptop he's holding. It starts downloading. So Kiefer's giving Gredenko something thatworks? The CTU sniper whispers over the comm. earpiece that he's got a problem: Brady's in the way, and he doesn't have a clear shot at Gredenko. As the file slowly downloads onto Gredenko's computer, he asks why Brady's so nervous. I know we just met Brady, but is he ever not nervous? Over Brady's earpiece, Kiefer hears Gredenko say something in Russian, and he informs the other teams that Gredenko just told his men to kill Brady as soon as he's verified the data. But the sniper still doesn't have a shot, and he can't move to where he has one. This is getting pretty tense. I'm getting kind of pissed off at the blatant level of audience manipulation involved in putting someone like Brady in harm's way. I'm even more pissed off that it's working. Kiefer reminds Brady to keep pretending that he can't hear Kiefer, and tells him to get on the ground and stay there when Kiefer tells him to. Gredenko finishes getting his file, and speaks to his driver in Russian again. The driver comes around, reaching inside his jacket. Kiefer tells Brady to get down, but Brady doesn't move. We see the back of Brady's head through the sniper scope, completely blocking Gredenko. The driver puts his handgun to Brady's head. Brady finally drops. Gredenko's got a tranq dart in his neck the very instant, and CTU shoots down the other bad guys from their hidden positions. Kiefer breaks cover and starts running toward Brady, just in time to spot and shoot a third minion getting out of the GredenkoMobile. Kiefer picks Brady up from where he's still rocking back and forth in duck-and-cover position, telling him he did great. "I wanna see my brother," says Brady. He's not nearly as angry as I would be at someone who sent me to go stand in the middle of a hail of bullets. Kiefer says that Brady can see Mark now, just like Kiefer promised. He tells his men to get Gredenko in the house and tell Buchanan that they've got him. It's 8:49:42.
8:53:54. Kiefer puts Brady in a CTUmobile and sends him off to see his brother, thanking him for doing so well. Rubbing his face in guilty incredulity that he actually got away with this, Kiefer gets back into regular mode to head back into the house and confront Gredenko. An agent says that the suitcase nukes weren't in Gredenko's car, which would have been nice. Oh, well, nine hours left to recap. The agent says that Gredenko's awake already. For a dart that works so quickly, it sure didn't last long. Kiefer proceeds inside.
Gredenko is in a chair, wearing handcuffs and leg irons, and when Kiefer enters, Gredenko seems to recognize him. Kiefer is all, "You know who I am?" Gredenko calls him "Agent Bauer" and says he knows all about him. Kiefer leans down and says that Gredenko must realize what Kiefer's going to do to him. Kiefer further threatens to send Gredenko back to Russia when he's finished: "I don't think President Suvarov is going to be too happy to see you." Or the three Chinese takeout cartons that Gredenko will be able to fit into once Kiefer's had his way with him. Gredenko's not interested in being a tough guy, so he says that Fayed has the bombs. He claims not to know where Fayed is, but offers to help find him. He explains that he came to get security specs for the Edgemont Nuclear Power Plant, and that Fayed is waiting for him to call. Kiefer holds out Gredenko's cell phone and tells him to do so, but Gredenko states his terms first: amnesty from the U.S. government, and a guarantee that he won't be returned to Russia. Seems like he should also ask for local amnesty, lest he spend the rest of his natural life in the L.A. County drunk tank. Kiefer looks surprised and not a little suspicious that Gredenko is rolling over so easily. Gredenko says he's no martyr, but a soldier and realist, and warns, "If I don't call him soon, Fayed will get suspicious." Not nearly as suspicious as Kiefer is right now.
Back in D.C., the Veep returns to the Battle Bridge and asks the Joint Chiefs Chairman if the sub Vickery is ready to launch yet. The admiral confirms that the launch window is seconds away. Just then, Tom rushes in, waving a cell phone and announcing that CTU has nabbed Gredenko, and that Kiefer's already questioning him. Tom says that Buchanan's confident that Kiefer's the man for the job. The Veep chuckles that he hopes that confidence is justified, and orders the Admiral to proceed with the strike. Tom freaks, protesting that they should wait and see what Kiefer gets: "If Gredenko gives up the bombs, then surely that is the desired result?" Which is so naïve of him, because by now the rest of us have realized that the Veep's "desired result" is a whole lot of dead Muslims. But he just makes the excuse that, in that case, they'll just consider the impending strike a retaliation for Valencia. Damn, how frustrating to have a commander-in-chief who's dead-set on an aggressive and irreversible course of action against a Middle Eastern country, who keeps coming up with new reasons to justify it as circumstances change. Good thing that could never actually happen. Nobody else in the room seems to have a problem with letting the strike go ahead, so the Admiral picks up the phone to call in the order. Tom shrinks into a split screen as he contemplates his sad role in history. In other windows, Fayed waits for Gredenko's call with his pathetic remaining arsenal of two nukes in the background, Gredenko looks smug, and Nadia is still back at work. Back in the Battle Bridge, the Admiral hangs up the phone and reports that the Vickery just received an order to stand down. But from whom? Why, from Wayne, of course. Just then, the phone rings. Lisa picks it up and stands up to hand it to the Veep, who's sitting right to her.
"Noah? It's Wayne," says Wayne, calling on a cell phone from his hospital bed. And he looks pissed at being woken up from probably the best nap he's had in years. "It's an incredible relief to hear your voice," lies the Veep. Wayne says that he's called off the strike. The Veep informs Wayne that the strike was only ordered after "careful deliberation." Wayne's like, "I'm sure it was, but it's my call, dude." He says that he's Commander-in-Chief again, and tells the Veep to hold off on any military action until further notice. Sandra smiles proudly at Karen. Wayne hangs up and starts looking around for the world's largest snooze button.
Back in the Battle Bridge, the Veep isn't taking this gracefully. He claims that Wayne still isn't thinking clearly: "I can't let him remain in power. Get me the Attorney General." And the scripts from Season 2, presumably. It's 9:00:00.