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This hour starts off angry and kind of stays that way. Taylor and Ethan are pissed at the FBI for losing Tony and Kiefer, Walker's pissed at Kiefer for playing her, and Kiefer's pissed when he learns about the homegrown CTU that Buchanan's been running with just Chloe and Tony. Still, he's on board to go back undercover with Tony for the job. Which he does, and nearly gets killed on Emerson's orders, but instead he turns his murder room into an audition stage and gets to join the crew. And then he learns that the job is to grab ex-Prime Minister Matobo and deliver him to Colonel Dubaku.
Some other stuff happens. Sean, worried about his wife's flight, unwisely impersonates Moss to push her plane to the head of the landing queue. Any repercussions from that will be felt in a later episode. Henry Taylor secretly meets with Sam, who hands him a drive containing evidence that Roger was not only murdered, but framed -- by someone near the top of Taylor's administration. We're supposed to think it's Ethan, because he's arguing more and more strongly for calling off the invasion, but I still don't like that looks of that Stevens guy. Walker visits the wounded Tanner in his hospital room, and makes Janis stall his lawyers while she tortures the helpless man into telling her Tony's move. Awesome. She's come so far in four hours.
At the end, Emerson, Tony, and Kiefer burst into the safe house where Matobo is staying, but they're too late to prevent him and his wife from locking themselves into a panic room. If they want to get to Dubaku, which they do, they're just going to have to get Matobo out. And since we already know the FBI's on its way, they'll need to hurry.
By the way, Bill Buchanan has become quite the cold-blooded son of a bitch since we last saw him.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!This hour's previouslies include a freeze frame for mid-level henchman Alan Tanner, the sniper who took out Gabriel Schechter a few minutes before 9:00 AM. Which does not bode well for Alan Tanner.
At the FBI's Washington Field Office, Janis calls over a very stressed-out Agent Walker and tells her that Kiefer and Tony were seen getting into a "dark-colored panel van." Which is correct, if bright blue is a dark color. Walker then goes to Sean, who isn't having any luck tracking the van through the traffic cams, for which he is (correctly) blaming the hacker. They can't even track the van's progress by which cameras are going dark? Maybe Chloe's going a little more sophisticated than that. Walker tells him to try, like, ATMs and parking garage security cameras. Why not YouTube, while he's at it? Walker completes her rounds by going to Moss, who is just getting off the phone, and tells him that someone's running interference for the fugitives on street cams. "Bauer must have worked out this escape with Almeida's people," Moss guesses, which is correct, but not in the way he thinks. Walker blames herself for listening to Kiefer. "Believing the Bureau was compromised? Someone on the inside working against us? I realize now it was him all along." Well, on the bright side, now she thinks she doesn't have to spend a lot of time looking for another mole. Moss is willing to share the blame, even when a blonde underling named Erica comes up to tell him that the White House is on line one. Of course it is. You don't put the White House on line four. Walker walks with him toward the conference room where he plans to take the call, promising him that she'll "make this right" by finding Kiefer and Tony. "Throw in the CIP device and maybe we'll be off the hook," he cracks. After he peels off, Walker bugs Janis some more, this time about the shooter who apparently caught an ambulance ride in from Tony's hideout at the docks. Janis pulls up the shooter's file. It's Alan Tanner, an ex-special forces guy who tried to get Gulf War Syndrome benefits after his discharge but failed, even after suing the government. Well, that would explain his anti-government bias. Bet he hates trial lawyers, too. Walker says she wants to know as soon as he wakes up.
In the conference room, Moss is having that phone conversation that nobody ever wants to have with the Oval Office on this show, even though sooner or later somebody always does. President Taylor and Ethan have him on speakerphone. They already know about Tony's escape, but want to know how it happened. Moss wisely just blurts out the truth: "He had the help of a former CTU agent that we mistakenly trusted, a man by the name of Jack Bauer." Ethan is surprised that Jack Bauer is anywhere but in front of a Senate subcommittee, and Moss has to explain that they got him out of there to help them find Tony. So really, there's no way to make this sound like it's not his fault. Ethan brings to bear his incisive powers of analysis by yelling at the speakerphone, "You and your people have royally screwed up, Agent Moss!" Taylor calls Ethan off and asks Moss if there are any other leads. Moss tries to explain about Tanner, and how he might be able to tell them something about Tony, but since nobody even knows when the shooter might wake up, Taylor starts yelling at him too, telling him that recapturing Tony is his only priority. Sweet, that means I can disregard the piracy warning at the beginning of this screener DVD!
After Taylor and Ethan get done beating up on poor Moss, they basically write off the whole FBI as being any possible help in this situation. Nice work, FBI. It usually took CTU eight or ten episodes to get to this point. They then remind the new viewers -- you know, the ones who missed the episode that just ended -- that if they're going to meet Dubaku's demand to back American forces off from their invasion position, they have less than two hours to get started. "Which would effectively end our mission in Africa and condemn a hundred thousand Sangalans to a certain and brutal death," Taylor complains. They couldn't come back after six days, when the firewall has been reprogrammed? Ethan points out that there are still a thousand passenger planes in the air over the U.S., waiting for landing clearance. "Dubaku could bring any one of them down at any moment!" Uh, what about implementing an emergency code phrase among real controllers and air crews, so the pilots would know when they're talking to legit ATC? No? Too simple? Even if that did work, Ethan continues that Dubaku could also "use the device for something far worse." Ethan adds. Taylor says that she ran on a platform of not negotiating with terrorists, and she can't exactly give in on that the very first time someone asks her to. "Won't I be telling Dubaku and the rest of the world that blackmailing America works?" "Those are questions for the future," Ethan says. "We have a decision to make now." Well, when you put it that way.
Okay, I've got this giant impacted bolus of exposition stuck somewhere, and things might get a little awkward here while I free it up. Here we go.
At 11:06:15, Buchanan slowly leads Tony and a fully recovered Kiefer up the stairs to his base of operations, which looks almost like an abandoned church. There are brown marble walls and unused furniture stacked up in the balcony where Chloe has her computers set up on folding tables. Kiefer asks what they call it. "We like to think of it as CTU," says Buchanan. "What's left of it, anyway." Which explains why Buchanan picked the highest point in the building for his office. Obviously, nobody knows they're there, or the place would be instantly condemned. Chloe appears, and she and Kiefer tell each other it's good to see one another, although they don't smile or hug or come within ten feet of each other. I suppose that might be too much to ask. Really, how close can they be? At this point, they really only see each other for a few minutes at a time over the course of one day every few years. I've got relatives I spend more time with. "I'm glad you're with us," she says. Kiefer grumps that he isn't with anyone, "until someone starts answering some questions." His first one is for Tony, and rather than something germane to the current crisis, it's the one the viewers have probably been nursing the longest: "Why the hell are you not dead?" Tony says he was, for almost ten minutes. "Or so I was told." By whom? Chloe pulls up a photo of Tony's buddy and boss, David Emerson. "I don't know who he paid off at CTU," Tony says, "but it was his people who injected my body with a hypothermic compound. Was able to revive me." Sounds reasonable enough. Almost as believable as the lack of a silent clock in Tony's last scene. Tony explains who Emerson is: "Independent contractor. Enlists ex-military and -intelligence operatives, jobs them out to clients. Apparently I fit the profile...former employees with grievances against the Federal government." Emerson had even been watching Tony since he left CTU. Would that be the time he left in handcuffs, or one of the other times? Tony continues, "After Michelle was killed, he figured I'd make a good recruit." Kiefer asks, all judgey, "And everyone else thinking you're dead? So much the better." Buchanan doesn't say anything, even though he's the only one in the room who didn't know Kiefer wasn't dead between Seasons Four and Five. "And since then, you've been working undercover to expose his operation?" Kiefer asks. Long, uncomfortable pause, before Tony confesses that he was working for Emerson for real. "I was angry. I hated the federal government for what it took from me. I ran Emerson's crew for more than three years. And I did some pretty bad things." You can tell he feels guilty about it, though. What those bad things might be will have to wait for later, because as pissed as Kiefer might be, now he just wants to know why Tony flipped on Emerson. Tony explains about the CIP firewall, which was too much for him. "Innocent Americans would die, and I didn't sign up for that," he says heroically. Kiefer asks why Tony didn't call the authorities, and Buchanan says he couldn't, because the job was for Dubaku and Tony knew Dubaku has spies in the government. The whole government, apparently. "Juma controls Sangala's vast diamond wealth, and Dubaku hasn't been shy about throwing it around," Buchanan adds. Sangala is diamond-rich? I don't remember that coming up before. In fact, during "Redemption," didn't outgoing President Daniels describe the country has having no natural resources? He must have meant no natural resources besides the vast diamond wealth. Buchanan explains that that's why Tony came to him, and Tony adds that they need to get to Dubaku, which is why he needs to get back undercover. Tony says there's a new job coming up that will allow him to meet Dubaku in person. "Emerson's going to think Tony made a deal with the U.S. Attorney," Kiefer bitches. Buchanan confirms it, and everyone's quiet while they let Kiefer think about that for a minute. "I can help you with this," Kiefer finally says, instead of just walking out. Because why would he bail on these nutbars when he's looking at such a sweet opportunity to stick it to the Man? He asks who else is involved besides the three of them. Chloe says it's just them. So I assume she and Buchanan have split with their respective spouses, then. Probably just as well, since I can't really picture Karen Hayes slinking around in the field in a leather catsuit with a knife in her boot, and all that computer equipment wouldn't be able to survive Morris spitting booze all over the place. Kiefer asks Buchanan whether he has proof of a conspiracy. Buchanan says he does, but only at the lower levels. That's enough for Kiefer, and he agrees to help them out. "But only because right now, you are the only people that I trust. You give me one reason to question that, I swear I will turn you in." Well, I can think of several dozen reasons. Maybe he just means they'd better not let the number of reasons drop below two.
Emerson's hanging out in his crappy, dusty, unfinished basement for some reason when a bald henchman named Morgan comes downstairs to say he might have some freelance replacements for Tony lined up. Right on cue, Emerson's cell phone rings, and he's surprised to hear that it's Tony. Instead of asking why Tony's blowing his one phone call on Emerson, he asks where he is. Oh, he already heard that Tony escaped, so that's why. "I also heard it was Jack Bauer who broke you out," Emerson adds. His source at the Bureau has been busy. But Emerson's confused, since he also knows Kiefer helped nab Tony in the first place. "He didn't have a choice. He's on board now," Tony says, as though that should clear everything up. Tony explains about the criminal charges pending against Kiefer. "I told him that if he helped with the mission, we could get him out of the country." He insists that they can use Kiefer for their upcoming gig, whatever it might be. Emerson has his doubts, saying that Morgan has new men coming in. "Morgan's a thug!" Tony complains. "He can't run point on something this important. Let me do it like we planned, Bauer can take Tanner's place, and we're good to go." Of course they didn't exactly plan it, because Tony didn't know anything about the job before he got arrested. Emerson goes along with it, though, and directs Tony to an address on Chesterfield. "Did he buy it?" Kiefer asks when Tony hangs up. "We'll see," says Tony, filling everyone with confidence. It's 11:11:55.
11:16:23. In the White House residence, Henry is writing a note at his desk, with the president puttering around in the adjoining room. Hearing a soft knock at the door that opens to the hall, Henry gets up to partially close the door to Taylor's room before answering it. It's Agent Getsch, whom Henry summoned to give him a ride somewhere. Getsch asks where, so he can put it on the manifest. "As before, I'd like you to keep this off the manifest," Henry says. "And no driver this time, just you." "Thought we were through with all the subterfuge, Mr. Taylor," Getsch says, like a disappointed teacher. He makes Henry explain about how Sam called him, when he was ready to let the whole thing drop. Finally, by promising to make this the last time, appealing to Getsch's sense of loyalty, and calling him by his first name (Brian), Henry gets Getsch to agree. Just in time, too, as Taylor comes out, asking for his help putting on a bracelet. Apparently she got it from her father, the day she won back his Senate seat. She tells Taylor that Matobo wants to meet with her, probably to ask why the invasion hasn't been authorized yet. So that's why she took time out from the multiple crises of the day, to come back and put on a bracelet for a meeting with someone she already met with earlier today? For the first time in my adult life, I'm having doubts about female POTUSes. Taylor says she doesn't know what to do, and he says something both completely supportive and thoroughly unhelpful: "The right call is whatever you decide it is." Well, that certainly takes the pressure off.
At FBI-DC, Walker continues micromanaging Sean's remote search for the fugitives. When she steps away at 11:19:02, his desk phone rings. It's his wife, Christina, calling from the Airphone in the seatback in front of her. "The pilot says we're in a holding pattern, but we just keep circling and circling," Christina says. Isn't that what a holding pattern is? Sean tells her to relax, and Christina says she heard something about a near miss and the air traffic control system. And since she heard it from the woman in the seat to her, it must be true. Don't ask me how the woman in the seat to her heard about it. Sean confirms it, sort of. "The FAA has grounded some planes, but it's only a precaution," he downplays. "It's an isolated incident. You're gonna be fine." That seems to calm Christina's nerves, and she promises to call him as soon as she lands. After they hang up, that Erica chick from earlier comes over to inject herself into the situation, having heard from Janis that Sean's wife is still airborne. And Sean is predictably rude about it. "Her flight is number eighteen in the queue so it'll be another two hours at least until hers gets clearance," he snaps, like it's her fault. Instead of backing off like any normal person with a sense of self-preservation, she offers to help. "There's nothing anybody can do, that's the problem," he bitches. Well, there are worse things than dying in a fiery plane crash. Probably, one of them is being married to Sean.
Janis flags down a passing Agent Walker to let her know that Tanner has woken up, and has already asked for lawyers. "Grab your laptop, Janis, you're coming with me," Walker says. She makes up some reason, which, since it's going to be totally different from what she ends up using Janis for, we don't really need to know. Suffice to say that both women are out of there like a bad double date.
At 11:21:06, Tony drives Kiefer in a Ford sedan through a fancy shopping district. There's a Gap store there and everything. Kiefer asks for the bullet on Emerson. Tony begins, "He's British." Which I was going to say is odd, because Emerson's accent is kind of a non-specific East Coast/congested, but we already know that the presence or absence of a British accent for any given character on this show can never be taken as a reliable indicator of his or her Britishness. Tony continues, "Former SAS, urban warfare, sniping, close quarter-combat, saw action in Beirut and Mogadishu." Kiefer figures Emerson sounds like he knows what he's doing. "But he's not some whack job or ideologue," Tony insists. "He's about two things: money, and personal loyalty." Kiefer wonders if Tony still admires Emerson. "He treated me like a brother when I thought I had nobody else," Tony says. Kiefer asks if this will be a problem. Tony assures him no. "I know he's on the wrong side of this. I'll do what has to be done." Which has kind of always been the problem with Tony, if you think about it.
They pull up across the street from a Georgetown row house, and as they walk up to the door, Tony says, "We're here" into some kind of electronic Tic-Tac before slipping it into the pocket of his jeans. Apparently that little announcement was for Buchanan and Chloe's benefit. Tony rings the doorbell, and one of Emerson's henchmen answers it. They're invited in, and there's clearly some kind of weird vibe already, even though the upstairs of this house is much nicer than the downstairs. Emerson orders his men, "Take Mr. Bauer downstairs. I need to talk to Tony." Red flags are going up everywhere as the two henchmen usher Kiefer into the dungeon-like basement. Once they're out of the room, Emerson quietly tells Tony, "Bringing in Bauer is not worth the risk." Listening in from home base, Buchanan and Chloe look worried as Kiefer's led downstairs at 11:23:07. "Have a seat. Mr. Emerson will be right with you," Morgan tells Kiefer in what he probably thinks is a polite voice. Kiefer sits, but doesn't relax. Upstairs, Tony tries to convince Emerson that they not only need but owe Kiefer, but Emerson isn't listening. He pulls out a gun. "So what, you're going to kill him?" Tony asks. Emerson, calmly: "No, you are." I'm sorry, that's one prediction I just can't get behind.
Back at Homemade CTU, Chloe narrates to Buchanan, "They're gonna kill him!" "They'll get out of it," Buchanan says. He's been around since Season Four, after all. And if not, "Jack's death solidifies Tony's position in the crew." Wow, that's kind of a high price to maintain a cover. After all those times Buchanan thought Kiefer was either dead or doomed, is he having trouble accepting the fact that Kiefer is still alive? "You knew this might happen the whole time," Chloe accuses. Buchanan admits it, and adds, "So did Jack."
But Kiefer's not waiting around to be killed. While Morgan is across the basement with his back to him for some reason, Kiefer makes his move. He stands and puts the guy guarding him through the stair railing, then head-butts him to the ground. Morgan pulls his gun, but Kiefer with a broken rail fragment is way scarier than Morgan with a gun, and Morgan is incapacitated and having his own weapon held to his head by the time Emerson and Tony come rushing down to see what's going on. While shielding himself behind Morgan on the floor, Kiefer yells at Emerson, "I came here to do a job, not be double-crossed by you!" Then he does something I've never seen someone do: go through a job interview with someone who's holding a gun on him. "You need good men. Not like these two traffic cops. Look what I've done to them!" Nobody moves. Kiefer continues, because Emerson still doesn't get his motivation. "I am here because I've got nowhere else to go. Tony said if I helped you, you could get me out of the country." Finally Emerson lowers his gun, and Kiefer releases his hostage, although he now points Morgan's gun at Emerson instead. Morgan wants Emerson to kill Kiefer, and threatens to leave otherwise. "Fine," says Emerson, and starts walking toward Kiefer. But then he shoots Morgan instead, then puts two more bullets into him while he's on the ground. Kiefer hides his guilty expression from Emerson, then offers to hand him Morgan's gun. "Keep it," Emerson invites. Looks like Kiefer's in the band. It's 11:26:23.
At 11:30:46, Sean is on his cell phone at FBI-DC, requesting a priority landing for his wife's flight. "I'm forwarding an urgent protocol from the White House," Sean insists. Which is bad enough, but then he gives his name as Larry Moss, and gives the operator Moss's access code. Yikes. I like my wife and all, but I'm not sure I'd commit a felony to shorten her flight time. But the operator promises to have the flight on the ground shortly. At least Sean remembers to say thank you. Those manners will serve him well in jail.
In the Oval Office, we're hearing Colonel Dubaku's audio message threat for the second time in as many hours, but this time, ex-Prime Minister Matobo is in the room to hear it as well. "You are recalling the invasion force?" he asks Taylor sadly. Taylor says that hasn't been determined yet. "What of Sangala?" Matobo wonders. Taylor says she knows all about it, and the ex-PM brings up a place called Kasanga province. This is the first Taylor's heard of it, so Ethan clues her in to the fact that Juma's moving in on a refugee camp filled with 2,000 women and children. Because he doesn't have anything else to worry about with an American invasion force hanging over his head. Matobo adds, "There is also the matter of those soldiers who, on the promise of American support, deserted the regime and joined my freedom fighters on the ground." Yes, because we've always considered that an important factor in the past. Taylor asks Matobo for a little more patience and ends the meeting, promising to do everything she can. "I count on you," he says as he shakes hands with her and Ethan, then leaves with his entourage at 11:33:16. No sooner is he gone than Taylor asks Ethan why he didn't mention the Kasanga thing. "You have enough to think about without being burdened with details," Ethan glosses. "Especially details that might push me toward proceeding with the invasion!" she says hotly. Ethan insists that their time's up, and they need to back down. "Kennedy survived the Bay of Pigs and you'll survive this," Ethan says. Okay, she's cool and all, but she's no Jack Kennedy. And that's a particularly bold statement in the 24-verse, where sitting and former presidents frequently find it difficult to survive, period. Ethan lectures, "A superpower has to act first and foremost in its own best interests. Always. No apologies." She asks if a superpower also allows a third party to dictate its foreign policy. "Yes," Ethan says without hesitation. "If there's no other option. And right now, there's not." She's still not ready to give up, and orders him to check with the FBI on the search for their fugitives. Ethan sighs at her stubbornness, but if he's planning to have her removed from office or blown up, he's keeping it well hidden from us.
Time for Kiefer's first costume change. He's in some black commando gear, lacing up his boots in Emerson's basement. Good thing he was about Morgan's size. Emerson comes over and extends a hand: "No hard feelings, Jack," he says. Kiefer shakes it. Emerson continues, "Disagreements are fine, but when a decision's made, fall in or you're gone." Kiefer says he's glad Emerson means it. At 11:35:15, he picks up his own perfectly good clothes off the floor and dumps them in a trash bin for some reason. Which is basically like announcing, "I have no intention of ever coming back here with you," but Emerson doesn't seem to catch the snap. Instead, he asks why Kiefer traveled the world before his subpoena. "What were you looking for?" Kiefer says whatever it was, he didn't find it. So Emerson asks why he came back. "Wanted to know what it was like to walk into a propeller," Kiefer deadpans. "That's funny," says Emerson, briefly cocking one corner of his mouth like there's something stuck in his teeth. But he seriously wants to know why Kiefer turned himself in. Kiefer can't exactly say he did it to save a bunch of Sangalan orphans from being conscripted into the underage army of Emerson's client, so he bonds with Emerson instead about the jobs they've done in the past. "Be polite, professional, and have a plan to kill everyone you meet, right?" Kiefer echoes the issue he was thinking about in Agent Kilner's SUV a couple of hours ago: "Where do the rules of engagement end and the crimes begin? I actually believe everything I did was right. So I wanted to start a dialogue. Come clean, set the record straight." Emerson calls that Kiefer's first mistake. "No one who hasn't been to the edge and looked over can ever understand," he says. As his cell phone rings, he ends the conversation by saying, "It's good to have you on board, Jack," and steps away to answer it.
Tony comes over and, while sticking a tiny bug to the back of a chair, asks Kiefer what's up. "He's just trying to get a handle on me," Kiefer whispers back. Tony warns Kiefer to watch himself, and not to underestimate Emerson. "I won't," Kiefer promises, actually looking a little nervous.
Emerson gets off the phone and says they're a go. "We're picking up a package, delivering it to our client. Here's the location." He hands out photocopied fact sheets, which show the layout of a residence at 167 Foxhall Road. "The package is a person?" Tony asks. Emerson confirms it, and reaches for a computer to pull up a photo of a familiar dark-skinned face. "Former Prime Minister Matobo of Sangala." They are to deliver him to Colonel Dubaku, who apparently wants to ask him some questions. And he's just so curious that he's willing to risk exposure and possibly screw up the timing of today's operations to get him.
Listening in at the command post, Chloe tells Buchanan they have to call someone to put a stop to it. "They're going to torture him and probably kill him!" "Unfortunately, yes," Buchanan agrees. Why weren't they listening this closely before? They didn't even know Tony had been arrested until Kiefer called to tell them. Anyway, Chloe argues, "Matobo single-handedly led the fight against genocide in his country. He doesn't deserve this." Buchanan says that's hard cheese for Matobo. Otherwise, "Jack and Tony will not find Colonel Dubaku and we will not get to the bottom of this conspiracy. Agreed?" Chloe reluctantly agrees. It's 11:38:42. Dude, Buchanan got hard core since he's been gone. And I hope this "conspiracy" plans to do something worse than nearly crash a plane and kidnap a poor man's Nelson Mandela to deliver him to an agonizing death, or else all this kind of isn't worth it.
At 11:43:04, Agent Getsch pulls a government town car up to the curb near the Tidal Basin and gets out with Henry. Except Henry doesn't want him to wait, because Sam will only meet with him alone. Getsch reluctantly agrees to position himself on a nearby bridge, which works for Henry. He jogs off to meet Sam, and Getsch drives on. After an obligatory pan up to the point of the nearby Washington Monument (it's becoming like the Space Needle on Real World Seattle), Henry reaches a park bench across the water from the Jefferson Memorial, a spot visible from roughly five miles of horizon, on what has turned into a sunny, clear day. So you can see why Sam picked it. She rushes up to Henry and after saying she can't stay, she quickly confirms that "they killed Roger and made it look like a suicide." Who? "The same people who provided false documents to the SEC to show he'd been trading on inside information." Oh, those people. Wait, that's still not answering the question. "They just said that they would kill me if I said anything," she says. Sam unspools a long and complicated story about how Roger was doing some auditing at work and found blind accounts connected to Sangala, plus others "that were traced to a senior member of your wife's administration." She doesn't know which one, but the trades showed that whoever it was was making heavy bets that Taylor wouldn't be able to manage the invasion. She says that Roger was going to give his mom the evidence in a couple of days. This is all complicated and boring and long-winded enough to not seem totally implausible, except for the fact that Sam says it started in early January and we already know from "Redemption" that Roger's friend Chris came to him on Inauguration Day, which almost always happens on the 20th (week, in other words, which still can't come soon enough for me). Sam hands Henry a flash drive, saying it contains everything Roger knew. "Do what you have to do, but leave me out of it," she begs, and takes off.
The point of view shifts to that of a distant watcher, looking through a telescope. No crosshairs, so at least Henry isn't about to be shot as he sinks onto that park bench. And fortunately, the watcher is only Agent Getsch, peering through his Super Secret Service Spy Scope from the Ohio Drive bridge. So that's a relief. Wait, Getsch looks worried now, if not actively irritated. So now I'm worried too.
At 11:46:40, Walker and Janis arrive outside Tanner's hospital room, where an agent is posted. He reports that Tanner is still critical. Even though he's in a room with a door. That's not like any critical care unit I've been in. Okay, the one critical care unit I've been in, but I've heard others described. Anyway, Walker sends the agent downstairs so he can call her when Tanner's lawyers arrive. Inside the room, Walker and Janis find Tanner heavily bandaged and hooked up to wires and breathing tubes. He's barely conscious. Walker introduces Janis and herself, adding, "I think you remember me. I know you're in pain, so I'll make this brief. Tell me where Tony Almeida is." Well, as far as Tanner probably knows, he's still at FBI-DC. Tanner just gasps, "My lawyers..." "Cannot help you," Walker says, threatening him with lifetime imprisonment if he doesn't help. He manages to smile a bit, which pisses her off and makes her press him harder. In fact, when he continues to keep his peace, she grabs him by the face and keeps firing questions into it. His arm flails out weakly, almost as if he's reaching for the gun that's somehow back on her hip, while Janis is like, "Renee? Renee! Renee, please. Renee?" She stops before I have to use a semicolon, and Walker lets Janis pull her aside. Janis has a question of her own: "I don't know what you're doing. What are you doing?" Just then Walker's cell rings. It's the agent downstairs, telling her that Tanner's lawyers are in the building. Walker leads Janis out of the room and asks her to go stall the attorneys. Janis is so not down with that. "We are breaking about fifty federal guidelines just by being here," she hisses. They have a whispered argument in which Janis stands up for procedure and Walker hits her with the importance of the lead and the thousands of lives at stake. Finally, the argument that gets through to Janis is, "Tony Almeida and Jack Bauer escaped custody on my watch. I have to make this right." So as much as Janis believes in the rules, she's willing to throw them out the window in order to help fix a coworker's screw-up. Well, I guess she did it for Sean last hour. At this rate, she's going to do something huge when it comes around to Moss's turn. Convinced, Janis heads down the hall to intercept herself some lawyers. Walker returns to Tanner's room, jamming the bathroom door against the entrance door as she does so. It wouldn't do for them to be interrupted, would it?
Meanwhile, Janis comes around a corner at 1:49:32, sees Tanner's lawyers, and ducks back into hiding as she realizes that she has no idea how she's going to do this. But after a moment's thought, she pops out again, calling, "Excuse me, gentlemen!" Think she's going to give them her Weight Watchers pitch?
Walker returns to Tanner's bedside and tells him he's out of time. Tanner groans that whatever Walker does, he's not going to tell her anything. So Walker draws her replacement gun and presses the muzzle against one of the bandages on his abdomen, demanding, "Who do you work for?" Wow, she really has turned into a female Kiefer. This is kind of terrifying. As Tanner grunts and sweats in pain, and fresh blood starts spreading under the spot where she's applying pressure, she keeps asking about Tony and the CIP device. "Lawyers," is all Tanner will say. Walker steps back in dismay, looking like she knows she's going too far, as though she's already regretting what she's become. But then Tanner makes the fatal mistake of cackling at her from his bed, and she grabs his air hose in her hands. "You can't do this," he pants. "You're FBI. This is illegal. I have rights." She looks completely grief-stricken at what she's about to do, but she Kiefers, "I suggest you use your last breath wisely." Tanner uses it to say, "Go to hell." Since that wasn't what Walker had in mind, she kinks the hose between her palms. Tanner starts suffocating. It's 11:51:06. You know, while recapping the first couple of hours, I Twittered that Agent Walker is, like, the first female character on this show who isn't stupid, evil, ineffectual, crazy, slutty, or Chloe. And now, instead, she's Kiefer. But would Kiefer himself approve of her actions right now? Well, since she's doing this in pursuit of Kiefer, I think maybe that gets into kind of a gray area.
At 11:55:32, Janis is leading Tanner's lawyers on a runaround through the hospital corridors. "I assure you, I'm taking this very seriously," she lies, cracking me up with her earnest bumbling dork act. She claims that Tanner was moved for security reasons, and pretends to be just as confused about his location as they are. By now they've had enough of her bullshit, and they approach the nurses' station to ask for Tanner. The nurse pulls up a screen on her computer to find him, and it alerts her to a "ventilator malfunction." Which no one has noticed for the last five minutes. Well, if Walker doesn't kill him, the hospital will. The nurse jumps to her feet and rushes to Tanner's door, calling for codes and crash carts. As the lawyers watch the nurses struggle to open the door that Walker jammed behind herself, one of them asks Janis, "Is somebody in there with her?" Janis is about to swallow her tongue in panic, until Walker comes out jauntily toting Janis's laptop case and chirping, "He's all yours, counselors." They try to stop her, but she's already striding away down the corridor with Janis, whom she tells, "You don't want to know, Janis, don't ask." She hands Janis her laptop bag -- and how awkward would it have been for Janis to have to go back for that? -- and tells her to have the other agent drive her back to the office. So I guess Tanner doesn't need an FBI presence outside his door any more. After all, what are the chances that someone else will make an attempt on his life?
As Walker hits the parking lot, she calls Moss to let him know she got the goods. Well, of course she did, otherwise there wouldn't be any point in doing it, would there? She'll go far in the Justice Department, although I'm hoping that the days when a person could make Attorney General by attacking a helpless man in his hospital bed are pretty much over. Anyway, Walker tells Moss that there's a plan to nab Matobo. "Pretty much now," she elaborates. "Listen, Larry, Almeida's still a part of this and if we can get there before him, we can set a trap." Moss is down with that, and before he hangs up to scramble a TAC team and give Matobo's security people a heads-up, he gives Walker the address of the State Department safe house where Matobo is staying, which is still 167 Foxhall Road. "Renee, do not go in alone. Wait for backup." "Right," Walker snaps unconvincingly as she gets behind the wheel of her SUV. One highly fraught reunion with Kiefer, coming right up!
It's 11:57:24 in the sunny front office of that State Department residence, which is actually quite fancy. A Sangalan security guard's cell phone rings, and it's Moss, who wastes no time: "This is not a drill. Code Alpha alpha delta. Lock the Prime Minister down. I repeat, lock him down!" The guard hangs up and stars rattling off orders in French to the other guards before bursting into the room where Matobo is sitting with his wife, whom I briefly mistake for Toni Morrison. As more urgent French is spoken, Sangala's former first couple is bustled down a corridor.
But is it too late? Emerson's other henchman -- the one Kiefer put through the stair rail -- finishes sabotaging a fuse box somewhere and gives the go signal over a walkie-talkie. A second later, a hallway window explodes to a hapless guard and Emerson comes charging through it, literally loaded for bear. Kiefer follows, with Tony bringing up the rear and gunning down a guard who appears in the courtyard behind him. That is some deep, deep, deep cover, right there. While Emerson quizzes the fallen guard in the hallway about Matobo's location, Kiefer spots the ex-PM himself through a couple of French doors and leads the pursuit. But they're too slow, because the guard has led the Matobos to what would appear to be an ordinary closet door, until he opens it to reveal the entrance to a concrete-walled panic room. The Motobos are sealed inside, while the guard gets to hang outside and wait for the kidnappers to arrive. Dude, his job sucks. Couldn't he get to protect them from inside the panic room? Kiefer disarms him and forces him to his knees. "Where is Matobo?" Emerson asks again. "You'll not be able to get to him now," the guard says defiantly. Emerson futilely slaps the solid, sealed door of the panic room, while Kiefer enters the adjoining space, a storage closet with drywall on both sides. At 11:58:56, Kiefer picks up a handy putter and starts swinging it at the wall while Tony watches. As he widens the hole, a splitscreen shows Walker driving her SUV with her flashers and siren going, Henry still meditating at the Tidal Basin, Moss walking purposefully past his shifty impersonator at the Bureau, and President Taylor staring into space in what has become the familiar shorthand for a president in crisis zoning out.
Inside the panic room, Matobo is trying to get the security monitors or the emergency phone to work, but they're completely cut off. Emerson's henchman did his work well, cutting off power to all systems that aren't required to either move the plot forward or provide enough light for the cameras to film. From outside the storage room, Emerson asks what Kiefer's found. "It's a safe room. Reinforced concrete," Kiefer reports. "Why the hell didn't we know about this?" Emerson says angrily, and prepares to take it out on the guard. Pointing his gun at him, he gives him three seconds to open the door. The guard quickly explains that it can only be opened from the inside. Emerson seems to believe him, because instead of killing him he only pistol-whips him into unconsciousness. And Tony quietly warns Kiefer, "If we leave here without Matobo, we lose our only chance of getting at Dubaku." It's 12:00:00, and now we have to wait a whole week to find out what happens . Or, in my case, even longer. Stupid advance screeners.
M. Giant is a Minneapolis-based writer with a wife, a son, and a number of cats that seems to have settled at around two. Learn waaaay too much about him at Velcrometer, follow him on Twitter (mgiant), or just e-mail him at M.Giant[at]gmail.com.