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Post-exposure, Kiefer isn't done being exposed. He meets up with the CDC (including Dr. Sunny Macer from Season Three) to get stripped off and scrubbed down in the middle of the road, while Moss returns to FBI-DC and Hodges's men deliver the bioweapon and Tony to Hodges at Starkwood. Taylor drafts Olivia as her new temporary Chief of Staff moments before hearing about the biological threat and becoming determined to move in on Starkwood, whatever the risks. Olivia also drafts Aaron as her Secret Service protection, overriding his protests about being retired. Moss apologizes to Walker and asks her to debrief Kiefer when he arrives, as though he needs another debriefing this hour. When Kiefer returns to FBI-DC, he's infected but not contagious, because having him in quarantine for the rest of the season would be pretty inconvenient. Back at Starkwood, Greg Seaton says he'd rather spring Tony and give up Hodges than follow him to prison. Seaton offers up the bioweapon's exact location on the sprawling compound in exchange for immunity. While the FBI prepares to move on Starkwood, Kiefer doesn't even get to come along. Which is just as well, because Seaton was only playing Tony and sending the searchers to the wrong part of the compound. That leaves Moss and his men sitting ducks, to be surrounded by Starkwood mercenaries prepared to shoot if they try to continue the search. Good thing Kiefer hung back, so he can swoop in and save the day hour, right?
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We've got Larry Moss, President Allison Taylor, FBI Agent Renee Walker, Jack Bauer, Tony Almeida, and Jonas Hodges in this week's previouslies freeze-frames. I don't see anyone about to be dead in there, aside from the obvious-yet-obviously-impossible one.
At the roadside where Kiefer parked the semi truck so he could first fix the bioweapon and then get it stolen out from under him, a small army from the Centers for Disease Control has shown up in their hazmat suits and are now shaking all of Kiefer's personal effects into Ziploc bags. There are both red and white hazmat suits, lending the whole scene an "Alice in Wonderland" feel that I'm sure is totally unintentional. A red-suit leads Kiefer over to the CDC doctor in charge, who just happens to be Sunny Macer from the whole Inn Fection arc during Season Three. Small world. Kiefer doesn't recognize her because he wasn't in that storyline, but she asks him to get undressed anyway, so clearly they're not having any trouble breaking the ice. A couple of other guys are schlepping a portable decontamination pool over as Kiefer tells Macer what he knows about the bioweapon, which isn't much. She stares curiously when he takes his shirt off, revealing his old Chinese torture scars. "This is not a reaction. I've had these scars," Kiefer non-explains. A red-suit gives Kiefer a shot in the arm while he stands there in his blinding white boxers, and then he's invited to step into the knee-deep pool. Before doing so, he drops his shorts. Unfortunately, nobody yells, "Whoa, who told you to do that? Put that thing away!" Duly denuded, he submits to a shower, a scrubbing, and some creative framing straight out of Austin Powers.
Moss walks back into FBI-DC, and Janis immediately asks him why the CDC has shut down six miles of Highway 236. Moss tells Janis about the bioweapon breach, Kiefer's exposure ("Oh, my God," Janis says dutifully), and his assumption that Starkwood is bringing the bioweapon back to its HQ in Virginia, along with Tony Almeida. He wants Janis to pull together everything they have on Starkwood. She reminds him that it's practically a military base, and he says they won't do anything until they have proof. "Then I'll inform the president, and she'll decide how to proceed." Hey, watch the spoilers, Larry.
At Starkwood, the stolen helicopter lowers the weapon onto the trailer of a flatbed truck, and Tony is pulled out of Stokes's SUV and frog-marched into a building while he and Seaton exchange a long look. It's almost as though they know each other, which they don't yet, but they're about to. Hodges gets in Seaton's face and quietly shares his opinion that Tony's not going to tell them anything. "Know the psychology of your subject. It's in our manual," he says. So that's another of the lessons 24 teaches us about torture: it always works, except on the good guys. Seaton follows Tony as if he's been given instructions, which, if he was, I confess that I missed them. A Starkwood tech named Tom calls Hodges over and tells him the damaged canister has been isolated, so they were lucky. Which is why everyone was wearing gas masks when they took delivery of the shipment. "They know we have the weapons, so that's not so lucky," Hodges corrects. Tom says it's going to take two hours to get it ready, but Hodges says that's too long. "They're coming. And they'll be coming with everything they've got, and the only thing that's going to stop them is getting these weapons ready to deploy," Hodges insists. Tom promises to do the best he can, and with a frustrated eye-roll, Hodges sends Tom and crew on their way down the driveway with the weapon. Not to tell Hodges how to run his company or anything, but is this really something he wants done as a rush job?
Inside the building where Tony was led earlier, he's being subjected to a beating and some questions from Stokes, who is asking him what the FBI knows. As if Tony's talked to anyone from the FBI in the last, oh, thirteen hours or so. Hodges joins the little group and calls Stokes off so he can play good cop. When Hodges promises that Tony can walk away alive if he tells them what the FBI knows, Tony takes his time, and finally opens his mouth. "I don't know anything...Mr. Hodges," he whispers with a mock-helpless gaze. Hodges mock-pats Tony on the face, roughly, and keeps trying to lean on him -- closer and quieter, as though his favorite instrument of torture is halitosis -- until Seaton interrupts. Reluctantly, Hodges pulls himself away. Seaton quietly suggests getting rid of the evidence while there's still time. Hodges refuses to give up the bioweapons, but Seaton says they're risking too much. "I think you're worried about your own ass," Hodges accuses Seaton, and orders Tony taken away. To Seaton, he says, "Keep your doubts to yourself. I'm not going to tell you again." You think Tony overheard all of that? Think he was meant to?
Kiefer is dressed in white scrubs and being told by Macer that she's going to need more blood and saliva samples from him, and probably a spinal tap. That last thing right there is probably the scariest thing that'll happen to him in the six and two-thirds seasons to date. As for whether he's been infected, preliminary results are due in the fifteen minutes, or at least another commercial break away. Another red-suit comes up and tells Macer that they've detected an airborne pathogen near the truck, which they haven't yet identified. Macer isn't worried about the low levels, but wants air monitors set up just in case. She tells Kiefer he saved a lot of lives sealing the canister, and all he asks for in return is a ride back to the FBI. Macer says that's the plan. So this is what it looks like when government agencies actually cooperate with Kiefer? Considering they get along so well, maybe he should consider joining the CDC when this is all over.At 11:09:57, Taylor and Olivia are discussing potential Chief of Staff replacements. Taylor is thinking about someone from inside her administration, but of course Olivia pushes for someone new. But since it might take weeks anyway, Taylor asks her daughter to step into the breach in the meantime. Because it's not like there's anyone else in Taylor's administration who could do the job, who's been inside the White House before today, and who knows stuff like people's names. No speaking roles, anyway. Olivia lamely pretends to resist, but accepts eventually. Just then, Tim from Homeland (who suddenly has a last name: Woods) enters saying he's got a call from Larry Moss about an "imminent homeland threat." Tim hesitates before putting Moss on speaker in front of Olivia, but Taylor says her daughter is the new Chief of Staff, so not to worry about security clearances or any of that silly nonsense. Once Moss is on the line, the first thing he tells Taylor is that Kiefer didn't kill Ryan Burnett or Senator Blaine Mayer. Taylor's the opposite of shocked, and asks who framed Kiefer. Moss tells her about Starkwood, their support for Juma, and what they got in return: a place to "Manufacture weapons of mass destruction...specifically, biological weapons." Way to bury the lede. The line goes quiet as Taylor paces around, and Moss just waits for someone on the other end to talk again. This is what happens to people who spend too much time on the phone with Renee Walker: they start to think long silences like this are totally normal. Finally Olivia chimes in, "What kind of bioweapons are you talking about?" Uh, the cute, fuzzy kind? What the hell kind of a question is that, anyway? Taylor's new Chief of Staff sucks. Moss says CDC is working on that. Oh, and by the way, before he forgets to mention it, Starkwood's got a big ol' shitload of them right now. "We need to move on Starkwood immediately," Moss says. That lede just keeps getting burieder and burieder. Tim gets up and asks, "Madam President?" "Assemble the Cabinet and the Joint Chiefs," Taylor orders. It's 11:13:25.
At 11:17:52, Walker is still hanging out in that holding room at FBI-DC. Moss comes in and wastes no time getting to the point. "Jack was right about Starkwood," he says. The explanation for Starkwood's involvement is at least getting shorter as we hear it for the umpteenth time, but Walker's more interested in where Kiefer is. "He's on his way over here," Moss says in a way that tells Walker something's wrong. Moss stammers, "He managed to secure the weapons, but then, uh, Starkwood got 'em back, and when that happened, um, Jack was exposed." Moss is obviously wishing he'd just sent Walker home for the night and told her all this via e-mail. She's clearly crushed, as Moss goes on to say that he wants her to debrief Kiefer about the weapons when he gets back. Or deboxer him as the case may be. "And I owe you an apology," he adds as tears spill down Walker's cheeks. He says he should have trusted her. "I let my prejudice about Bauer get in the way." He still says she should have trusted him too, which she admits. Just when it looks like Moss is about to take a crack at turning this into another kind of holding room, if you know what I mean, she asks, "When are we moving on Starkwood?" The tears turn into steel so fast you can practically hear them clattering on the table.
Aaron's making his way down a White House hallway, his arm in a sling, when he's hailed by Olivia. She heard he was leaving, but says she needs him to stay. Jesus, lady, he just saved your life when he wasn't even on duty. How much more pro bono work do you want from him today? Well, this, in fact: she wants him to handle her security detail now that she's the acting Chief of Staff. Aaron says he's flattered, but also retired. "There are plenty of fine agents on the roster," he says. Olivia doesn't want a fine agent; she wants Aaron. She tells him that the threat is ongoing, and she needs people she can trust. What about people she can pay? "I'm running into a meeting with the president," she bulldozes. "I assume your answer is yes." She leaves without letting him give his real one. Poor Aaron. I bet he's thinking, Man, the time Bill Buchanan calls me for a favor, I'm going to-- oh, wait. Never mind.
At 11:20:47, Taylor calls the meeting in the Situation Room to order. Olivia takes a seat at her mom's right hand, to Tim. Taylor gives him the floor, and he tells them about the belief that Starkwood has acquired a bioweapon. He puts a satellite photo of Starkwood's local compound up on the screen. "Over three square miles, 259 structures. The weapons could be hidden anywhere on the facility." Admiral Smith asks what kind of bioweapons (a question which somehow sounds smarter coming from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs), and luckily a CDC boss named Ben Landry is there with the preliminary field report, which tells them exactly what kind of bug they're dealing with. It's "A prion variant indigenous to the East Congo. It's a form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which attacks the brain and the nervous system. Causes dementia, physical deterioration, ultimately death." And all within a day or two, as opposed to the months it would usually take. Sounds like a weapon developed just for 24. And of course there's no treatment or cure. Boy, let's hope Kiefer doesn't have it then, huh? Taylor declares, "It goes without saying, we can not allow a private military force, these killers, to possess weapons of mass destruction." And yet she said it. "Now we need to find these weapons and arrest those bastards at Starkwood who were responsible for bringing them here!" A highly decorated general stands up and says that the size of the compound means it'll take a large force to find the weapons. "Not to mention the fact that there are fifteen hundred highly trained mercenaries on that base. God forbid they decide to resist. We could have a small war in our own backyard." Well, not to quibble, but given Kiefer's activities over the past couple of hours, it's going to be more like 1,497. Admiral Smith agrees with the general, and adds that if they move in, Starkwood might use the bioweapon against them. Taylor asks about the possibility of an air strike, but Smith advises against that for a variety of reasons. A civilian guy who may or may not be the Attorney General points out that even if they could do any of this, it would be in violation of Posse Comitatus. "We can't deploy military personnel in a law enforcement capacity. Not without Congressional approval." Taylor isn't ready to let it slide, so she tells everyone to figure something out. Surprisingly, nobody asks if they can sleep on it and get back to her in the morning.
Tony's now been handcuffed to a chair in a small, dark room. Stokes comes in and asks if he's changed his mind about talking. Tony has so not changed his mind that he doesn't even answer. So Stokes claims he bet Hodges a pair of Redskins tickets that Tony wouldn't talk. "Looks like I'm going to be sitting on the fifty-yard line," he smiles, leveling his gun at Tony's face. Tony braces himself, but when there are two silenced shots, it's Stokes who crumples to the ground, revealing Seaton standing behind him in the doorway with a gun of his own, shaking in his hand. He was probably terrified that it was going to jam on him. As Seaton takes the handcuff keys off Stokes's body and frees Tony, he says he needs Tony's help to stop this. "I'm not going to spend the rest of my life in prison because Jonas Hodges has lost his mind." Tony tells Seaton to tell him where on the compound the weapons are, but first Seaton wants immunity. Tony can't promise that, because technically he's wanted himself, but he's willing to call the FBI and see what they say. Seaton agrees, and just to prove his goodwill, he hands Tony the gun before leading him out of the room to go set up a secure land line.
The CDC's giant hazmat van with its police escort is approaching FBI-DC. You can tell it's a hazmat van by the giant letters "TAMZAH" painted under the windshield, with the "Z" not reversed. Of course, anyone seeing that in their rearview mirror will be like, "'HAMSAT?' The ham sat where?" The back of the van is divided into a quarantine area in the back, where Kiefer sits in a set of borrowed white scrubs; and another area in the front, where Dr. Macer sits in her regular clothes with some of her staff. Another plus to Kiefer working with the CDC: under their spacesuits, they apparently wear the kind of zipper jackets Kiefer can pull off in his sleep. Through the glass divider, Macer tells Kiefer that he'll be put in quarantine once they reach FBI-DC, because apparently FBI field offices have quarantine facilities. She also asks how he's feeling. "No different," Kiefer says. Which isn't exactly true; he looks a lot less rushed and angry than usual. A guy hands Macer a PDA that shows Kiefer's blood work results. She looks at it, then gets up and opens the door between the compartments and hands it to him. He looks at it, huffs, thanks her, and hands it back. It's 11:26:22. Well, if he were sick, she wouldn't have gone in there, would she have?
At 11:30:44, Janis flags down Walker to say that Kiefer just arrived, but he's not going to quarantine. Walker looks cautiously hopeful, and goes over to the elevator to meet Kiefer. When he gets off with Macer and her minions, she asks if he's okay. "My blood work came back positive," he says quietly. "I'm infected." Walker doesn't know what to say. "It's fine," he says stoically as he's led off for another costume change. Walker turns to Macer, who explains that the reason Kiefer isn't in quarantine is because the pathogen isn't contagious. "It was engineered that way to prevent blowback on the people deploying it." She says there's still no cure, "But he's patient zero. Whatever we learn from the pathogen will come from the tests we still need to run." So it sounds like Kiefer will be working with the CDC after all, for the rest of his life in fact. Macer gets a cell phone call and steps away to take it. I'm sure it's her agent, calling to ask if she'll be available for Season Eleven.
That frees Walker to go walk in on Kiefer while he's changing. He sits up, and she becomes the second woman to stare dumbly at his scars in the last half hour. "Sorry," he says, fumbling for his shirt. Walker says Moss brought the Prez into the loop, but they don't know anything about Tony's status yet. She asks to debrief him, which he's fine with. "I read the statement from the Port Authority cop," she adds. The Port Authority cop gave a statement? And Walker read it in the last twelve minutes? "He said that you risked the mission to save his life. You did the right thing." Well, technically the mission, uh, failed. Kiefer thanks her, and she leaves him alone in there, even though he's pretty much dressed by now. Okay, good debrief!
At 11:33:13, Seaton sneakily leads Tony across the ground floor of the main building to his office, dodging guards along the way. When they arrive, Seaton's phone is ringing, with a call from Hodges in the lab. And apparently it's really loud there, because Hodges is using his outside voice as he asks Seaton where he's been and whether Stokes has gotten Almeida to talk yet. "I told him to put Almeida down if he didn't start talking," Hodges bellows. Seaton asks for a few more minutes, and Hodges insists on having everyone there to help with the weapons. Seaton promises to be there soon with Stokes. "See that you are, Greg," Hodges yells, and hangs up. Before calling FBI, Seaton gets to work setting up a secure line on his computer, so nobody can listen in. As he does so, he tells Tony he never thought it would go this far. "[Hodges] founded Starkwood to protect this country." "Yeah, well why is he attacking it?" Tony asks, as though a lot of people didn't spend the morning wondering the same thing about him. Seaton says it's complicated. "I don't understand it myself." So much of this show would go over a lot easier if more people would just admit that.
At 11:34:57, Janis has Moss at her desk so she can show off the comprehensive materials she's pulled together on Starkwood. Moss tells her to upload it to the servers or whatever and tells her she did good. He sees Walker coming and tells her he heard about Kiefer, and that he's sorry. Walker says she's still debriefing him, but she got a description of the canisters. She shows him a big block of tiny text on her PDA. Moss tells her to send it to the field agents (who apparently are all equipped with magnifying glasses) and asks how Kiefer's doing. "Hard to tell," she says. I wouldn't say that. Kiefer's remarkably easy to diagnose: is he being easy to get along with? If so, he's dying. Walker starts to kind of quietly go off about the people who've died today (so far), and Moss is just beginning to assure her that it won't be for nothing, when Janis calls over to say that Tony's on the phone. That's not a call they were expecting. Moss takes it, and Tony talks to him like they've been working together all day. Speaking quickly, he says he's at Starkwood, and was being held by Jonas Hodges until he was sprung by Greg Seaton, who wants to make a deal: the weapons' exact location for immunity. Moss says he has to check with Taylor, but before he hangs up, Tony asks about Kiefer, and Moss has to tell him that Kiefer was infected. Moss has used up all his long pauses for the hour, so when Tony doesn't respond, he says, "Tony, I gotta call the White House. Stand by." He tells Janis to set that up in the conference room. "And get me the president on the phone." He never gets tired of saying that, does he? It's 11:36:32.
At 11:40:54, Olivia enters the Oval Office to find Taylor watching some grim footage on the big screen. It shows civilians writhing and twitching away their last moments of life in the dust, while gas masked soldiers stand over them with guns. "What is this?" Olivia asks in horror. "My new press briefing room, you like it?" Taylor replies. No, actually, it's footage from Sangala that was apparently just smuggled out of a weapons lab 45 minutes ago. Leaving aside the convenient timing, why did it have to be smuggled? Isn't Sangala a 51st state now? In any case, it's proof that Juma was testing the bioweapon for Starkwood. "And that's what we allowed Starkwood to bring into this country." She rants about all the stuff the government has outsourced to Starkwood. "My God, we even passed a law so that they could build a military base thirteen miles from the nation's capital!" She isn't pacified when Olivia says that Taylor fought all that. And this episode has not been brought to you by Blackwater. Tim and Admiral Smith interrupt the pity party by walking in and telling them that Moss is calling from the FBI. From the conference room where he's hanging with Janis on her webcam-equipped laptop, Moss says they have a contact inside Starkwood: Greg Seaton is willing to give up the weapons' location in exchange for immunity. Moss says he's already prepping the raid, but needs Taylor to sign the agreement. Tim and Smith advise Taylor that this is probably their best chance, and Smith adds that they should have Navy SEALs ready to back up the FBI. "The Attorney General will raise hell," Olivia warns, but Taylor puts that off for later and gives Moss the green light. Then the show suddenly turns into an ad for Cisco WebEx, whereby according to Moss, Taylor can provide a "secure digital signature and we're good to go." Tim leads Taylor to the outer office, where it's all set up. She signs on a track pad, and her signature magically appears at the bottom of a long and wordy legal document that's been rapidly drafted to pardon Seaton. I hope that in the interests of verisimilitude, the prop department banged that out in under eight minutes. Then Moss, Seaton, and Taylor are all in live video windows on...well, someone's monitor, talking to each other. Moss says they can make it to Starkwood in ten minutes, and Taylor wishes him good luck. While he and Janis are relocating to the bullpen, Tim says they may have caught a break. Way to jinx it, dude. Fortunately, Taylor says she wants everyone to keep looking for other options.
At 11:44:22, Janis totes her laptop back into the bullpen, where tactical boss Peter Onorati and a whole lot of FBI agents in combat fatigues are assembled. Moss tells Seaton to go ahead with the weapons' location, and Seaton says, with everyone listening, "The weapons are in a warehouse in the northeast quadrant of the compound, 32-44.23 north, 11-710.42 west." Because apparently he knows the precise GPS coordinates of each of the 259 structures on the grounds. The digital map up on the FBI big screen lights up the building in question. Moss asks Seaton to get Tony to the warehouse to provide ground recon, and get a radio while they're at it, and Seaton agrees. Peter Onorati points out a spot 50 yards from the warehouse where they can land, and Moss points out support drops. As they get moving, leaving only Moss and Walker behind, Kiefer rushes in to ask Moss what's going on. Moss tell him they're going in, and Kiefer says he wants to come along. "I can understand why, but I'm sorry, I can't allow it," Moss says flatly. Kiefer tries to claim he's the only one who's seen the canisters, but Moss says it's all in the description he gave Walker earlier. Besides, it's not like the FBI is going to rush out there and accidentally liberate a soda machine. "Larry, please, I've earned this," Kiefer begs. Moss says he'd normally want Kiefer out there with them (at least as of this hour), "But you're sick. We have no idea when you're going to start showing symptoms. I can not risk that happening in the field. I need my best men for this operation. I hope you can understand that." I don't know why he had to add that last part. Kiefer sits down, huffs bitterly, and finally tells Moss he's right, not once but twice. "I always knew eventually we'd agree on something," he even chuckles, as though he's known Moss for months instead of less than a day. Moss says he's so sorry, and leaves Walker to watch over him. And then Kiefer wanders off, so Walker doesn't even have that to do any more. It's 11:46:33.
At 11:51:02, Seaton drives a Starkwood jeep up to a chain link fence somewhere on the compound. He starts talking to the guard there, until suddenly Tony clubs the guard down from behind, having teleported onto the scene at an opportune moment. He takes the unconscious guard's gun (quite an arsenal he must be amassing there), and Seaton takes his key card, and in a moment they're inside the fence. Seaton leads Tony around behind the nearest building, and from there they peek out at the warehouse where Seaton says the weapons are, along with Hodges and at least a dozen men, in addition to the two armed guards posted outside. Security within security within security, all within Starkwood's main perimeter. The real question about Starkwood is how such a paranoid organization ever admitted to its own existence in the first place.
Inside the lab, Hodges stresses at his tech, "Wolves are at the door, Tommy. How much longer?" Tom doesn't have good news: it's going to be another hour. Hodges says the FBI is on their way, and he's getting visibly worried. Considering how many major threats this season has cycled through already, he's right to be.
At 11:52:24, three FBI helicopters are two minutes out. From the back of one of them, Moss speaks into his headset to Tony, who's gotten himself a radio as requested. Tony describes the scene on the ground, and Moss tells him to stay put. Moss calls back to base, saying they've got a confirmed target and are moving in. Walker, apparently coordinating the raid from FBI-DC, confirms that they're monitoring. They've got a bunch of live feeds up so they can watch, which right there is the first sign that this shit's about to go pear-shaped. Live feeds are the new parking garage.
Inside the helicopter, Peter Onorati reports that Starkwood's air traffic control tower is hailing them. Starkwood has an air traffic control tower? Moss takes the call, identifies himself, and says they have an executive order from the president to search one of their buildings. The air traffic guy says they'll need authorization, but Moss says the digital copy of the order they've already sent is all the authorization they'll need. "Make no attempt to interfere or you will be arrested. Do you understand?" He has to repeat it before the guy says he understands. Moss gives the order to go in.
The three helicopters take approximately forever to hover in over the compound, giving anyone at Starkwood plenty of time to aim a surface-to-air missile at them, were they so inclined. But just to give them more time, they hover over the landing spot for a while, one of them disgorging agents via droplines. Just to show off, as far as I can tell, because the other two land so people can step out onto the ground like normal people. Finally all three choppers are safely down, and Tony and Seaton run out to meet them. Moss offers the still-bleeding Tony a medic (which he declines) and tells Seaton to stay behind them. The soldiers move in, and there's a brief standoff with the two Starkwood guards outside the warehouse door before Moss overpowers them with the might of his shouting. And that of his legal authority and several dozen heavily armed agents. The Starkwood guys drop their weapons and get down, allowing themselves to be cuffed and the entrance door to be blown open. By now Kiefer has joined the group watching the raid on the video feeds back at FBI. But when Moss and his men enter the building, there's nothing there: only an empty warehouse, and the other half of Moss's team coming in at the other end. This does absolutely nothing to change my opinion about Starkwood's paranoia. If they've got this much security around an empty building, how heavily do they guard the buildings that actually have shit in them? Moss angrily asks Seaton where the weapons are. Seaton smugly claims not to know. "Almeida was threatening to kill me. I told him what he wanted to hear." Tony grabs Seaton by the lapels and repeats Moss's demand. Moss tells Tony to back off and tells his men to cuff Seaton. As he pulls Tony aside, Tony tells Moss, "He's lying, Larry. He played me." "Yeah, I know, looks that way," Moss agrees. Because he's suddenly Mr. Trusting.
Inside the real lab, Hodges happily watches a monitor that's showing a feed from a security camera placed outside the warehouse. The empty warehouse, with nothing in it. "Well, what do you know," Hodges remarks to the guy running the monitor. "Little ol' Seaton bought us some time. On the other side of the compound. We just have to keep them there." But how are they going to do that? Damn, if only Starkwood had some guys...
As Hodges shrinks into a splitscreen window, other windows show Moss's men continuing the pointless search of the warehouse, Taylor pacing the Oval Office, Hodges's men continuing to do their prep work on the bioweapons, Seaton looking quietly smug, and Kiefer watching the video feeds. Finally, Peter Onorati tells Moss that there's nothing there. Yes, we could see that from the bare walls. Although it would make a nice hideout for some freelance terror organization, if they just brought in some kind of room dividers for Kiefer to run and shoot around. Moss tells Walker over his headset that this was a diversion. At her shoulder, Kiefer tells Walker that the weapons have to be there somewhere, since there's no way they could have gotten them off the compound this fast. Uh, how long did it take Starkwood to get them away from you, smart guy? Was it an entire minute? But Walker relays Kiefer's remark to Moss. He orders everyone out of the warehouse, where at 11:58:14 he instructs his men to begin a search of the whole compound. "Good," Kiefer says to Walker, and starts to walk away. Moss is still giving his instructions when suddenly he and all his men are surrounded by Starkwood Humvees with roof-mounted machine guns. Which, naturally, are pointed at the FBI guys. Walker calls Kiefer back to watch the end of the show as Moss tells his men to hold their fire. "Tell Larry to have his men stand down," Kiefer tells Walker. "Are you kidding? They just drew on federal forces," Walker retorts angrily. Kiefer says they'll lose their men otherwise. Especially since he's not there to save them. Into this standoff drives one more Humvee, and out of the shotgun seat climbs Stokes, not even remotely dead. But a little less angry. Still sneery, though. He walks toward the FBI men until Moss tells him to stop. Tony and Seaton look at each other. So Seaton wasn't even willing to kill one coworker in order to sell this little ruse of his? What a lightweight. Actually, this payoff reminds me of Marathon Man, where a guy pretends to kill Dustin Hoffman's tormentor, only to hand him back over to him later. By the way, that non-killer was played by a young William Devane, by which logic Greg Seaton will one day be the United States Secretary of Defense.
Stokes tells Moss that Starkwood has cooperated with the FBI's search of the one building, and now they want the FBI to leave. Moss says they're not leaving without the bioweapons, and tells Stokes to have his men stand down. "Those charges are absurd," Stokes sneers. "And we're not going to let you keep searching. You're on private property! And we're prepared to defend it if necessary!" Okay, now he's angry again. Moss yells back that Stokes is threatening federal agents, and again gives the order to stand down. "We're protecting our rights against a hostile government that's using false charges to try to shut us down," Stokes retorts. "We don't want any bloodshed, but if you try to advance any farther, you will be fired upon." The clock ticks over to 12:00:00. Okay, clearly they got off on the wrong foot, but now that it's a new day, could they maybe start again?
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.comDiscuss this episode in the 24 forums, and take a look back at the show's most ludicrous moments!