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In order to cover himself, Tony shoots himself in the gut before the FBI arrives. He sticks around while they run the search so he can feed info and escape advice to Galvez, the Starkwood fugitive with the bioweapon canister. Walker is shocked to learn that Moss is dead, least of all because now she's in charge, and when she goes to join the search, Kiefer insists on coming along. Tony's plan for Galvez is to have him lure a bunch of FBI agents into a house and then blow it up. But first Tony has to lie to Kiefer's face about what happened, which goes better than it did in Season Three, at least at first. When the time comes, Walker leads the charge into the building, which Galvez blows up seconds after Kiefer figures out something's up. After that, Kiefer learns that Tony lied to him about his source on the White House attack intel, and confronts him at gunpoint. Tony denies everything, right up until Kiefer has a seizure. And in the meantime, Galvez poses as a wounded agent and escapes the scene, with the canister.
In White House Jail, Hodges expects a visit from his attorney, but instead a lookalike comes to him with a suicide pill. And through her, we meet the first of the shadowy figures behind the alluded-to larger conspiracy. He's played by Will Patton, so you know these aren't lightweights we're dealing with. Hodges swallows the pill while being transferred to the FBI, and it appears to work quickly.
And in less urgent but still mind-blowing news, Spawn's on her way back home. In her taxi to the airport, she talks to her boyfriend on the phone -- who's back home in L.A. with their daughter (!) Teri (!!). Kiefer's a grandpa and he doesn't even know it.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!This week's previouslies freeze-frames have Jack Bauer, Kim Bauer, President Allison Taylor, Tony Almeida, and, as with last week, "The FBI." It's like three-fifths of a flashback to the first season.
That's a nice house that the power-suited blonde woman is coming down the stairs of, but we quickly learn its price: a) sometimes you have to get up at two in the morning to go to the White House, and b) you have to do it for your client, who is Jonas Hodges. Whoever she's on the phone with really does not have a clear idea of what's going on and why she's needed because he tells her, "Apparently Hodges was in a policy meeting with the president and things got out of hand." Which I suppose is true, if you reverse those two statements. She puts on her glasses and starts to head out the front door, but as soon as she does, there's a guy standing there spraying an aerosol into her face. It's obviously some kind of drug rather than hair spray, so she collapses semi-conscious on her entryway floor. Her aerossailant steps inside, followed by a similarly blonde and power-suited woman who closes the door behind them. The man gives Hodges's attorney an injection between her second and third fingers (OW!), and before she totally blacks out, she takes in the sight of her own approximate doppelganger crouched over her. No house is nice enough to have to put up with this. The blonde invader takes a couple of photo IDs out of the lawyer's wallet, while the man who aerossaulted the lawyer is busy reading the lawyer's thumbprint with an electronic device. The woman also steals the victim's jewelry and glasses and puts them on. She presses her own thumb against the device, and it comes away shiny with a layer of plastic over the pad. Right where her thumbprint is. I'm not sure what all this means, but I'm pretty sure that the White House is about to be illegally entered for the second time today.
At FBI-DC, Walker catches up with Janis to tell her that they have an ID on Poor Man's Tracy Morgan. He's actually Robert Galvez, a Starkwood employee and, natch, Special Forces vet. Because Starkwood never recruits anyone out of Forrest Gump's unit. She wants Janis to pass that information on to Moss, because neither of them know yet that he's beyond caring. The good news is that the SWAT teams, led by an Agent Park, are only a few minutes away, and there's a supposedly airtight seal around a four-block radius. And since it's an FBI perimeter rather than a CTU one, it's going to be actually difficult for someone to get through it.
Tony stands over Moss's body, looking at the gaping holes in his side from the shotgun rounds Galvez pumped into him, and the blood-goatee he's sporting since Tony smothered him. Tony can hear Janis on comm telling the whole world that they're looking for Robert Galvez and that she's sending out a picture of him. Tony picks up Moss's empty sidearm, changes the clip, and takes a deep breath. Then, getting a head start on a bellow of pain, he shoots himself low on the left side, and the bullet appears to go straight through. It's not every show that you have to convey an exit wound in real time. He falls to the ground writhing. He manages to pull it together just enough to answer his cell phone when it rings, and it's Galvez on the other end of the line. Galvez has seen the patrols and wants to keep moving, but Tony tells him not to: there's a tight perimeter, and they have Galvez's photo. Tony says he'll get Galvez out. "I promise you, that canister you stole for me is worth a lot of money from the people I'm working for." "A hell of a lot of good that money's gong to do me in prison," Galvez whines, so Tony tells him to shut up and do what he says. "Guard the canister, stay put, and wait for my call." In that order, presumably.
Just then, a couple of FBI SUVs come into the lot, flashers blinking. Tony hides his phone and plays possum, so all the new arrivals can see is two bodies on the pavement. Agent Park goes to Tony, "revives" him, and asks what happened. Tony says the suspect ambushed them and that he doesn't know where he went. Which technically is true, except for the "them" part and the fact that the only reason he doesn't know where Galvez is is because he didn't ask him while he was talking to him on the phone less than a minute ago.
Back at FBI-DC, Janis reports to Walker that the TAC team has arrived, but still no twenty on Moss. He's under you, Park, you ass. But then Spawn shows up at Walker's elbow to say goodbye. Walker's kind of startled, not to say judgmental, that Spawn isn't going to be helping Kiefer after all. Kim tells Walker that Kiefer doesn't want to take the chance. "If he's gonna die, he wants it to be on his terms." "Yes, but can't you change his mind?" Walker asks. Spawn says, "I would think you'd know by now that no one can change my father's mind when it's made up." Right. Walker's known him almost a day. So, yeah, that's fair. Spawn thanks her for giving them the chance to talk to each other. "I wanted to say more but I don't want to cause him any more pain." Or me. Janis calls over to Walker to say that Park is calling in, and Walker excuses herself from Kim (who gives a very Kiefer-like huff of disappointment while saying she understands) and goes over to take the call.
"Agent Moss is dead," Park blurts. "What?" Walker gasps. Park tells her about Moss and the chopper pilot, and that Tony's wounded but alive. Walker manages to ask about Galvez, and Park assures her that he can't have gotten far, and they're still looking. "How do you want to proceed?" "Me?" Walker asks. "You're the ranking agent in charge now," Park informs her. That's handy. Obviously the chain of command at FBI goes by number of lines. Although I shouldn't complain; the alternative would be the predictable route of bringing in some temporary, by-the-book, stick-up-the-ass interim manager that they'd just have to break in all over again, slowly helping him win over the audience until finally one day he goes and blows himself up inside the White House. Walker manages to give some orders and promise to be there soon with a team. Park says he's got enough people without her showing up (apparently the Starkwood compound is pretty much taking care of itself now, less than an hour after its liberation), but Walker insists that she's on her way. Janis, who's heard only Walker's end of the conversation, worriedly asks, "Larry?" Walker tells her what happened, and Janis says, "Oh, God," pulling off her headset. With a tear trickling down her face, Walker tells Janis to call the White House, have Dr. Macer send out a hazmat team, and put together a team to head out with Walker. Janis says she's sorry, and Walker says someone needs to tell Moss's ex-wife. "Probably shouldn't be me." Janis is on it, even though Walker's last line conveyed a surprising amount of new information. New, at least, to us.
In the FBI debriefing room, Kiefer is pouring himself a glass of water with shaking hands as the FBI stenographer says they're up to 3:00 PM (dude, Kiefer's been talking fast) and maybe it would be a good time for a break. Kiefer declines. "We need to finish this while I still can," he says. And at this rate, it's going to take another seven minutes. The agent brings up the intel about the White House attack. "Tony Almeida provided me with the intel, but we did not know the White House was the intended target at the time," Kiefer explains. The agent asks Kiefer who Tony's source was, and even though we never saw him give Kiefer a name, Kiefer's able to come up with one: "Vincent Cardiff." Upon being asked if he talked to Cardiff himself, Kiefer says, "He didn't survive Tony's interrogation. But he was the one who provided us with the intel on the upcoming attack. We did not know that the White House was the intended target at that time." He keeps repeating that, until the agent offers the break again. Kiefer apologizes, and just then a guy comes in to deliver some data files to the agent. Through the open door of the debriefing room, Kiefer can see armored FBI agents milling around in the hallway. Which wouldn't necessarily mean anything, given all their comings and goings tonight, except that he overhears them saying something about Agent Walker having their assignments. So Kiefer gets up at 2:10:27 and walks out into the hallway to investigate. Soon he finds himself in the bullpen, where a flak-jacketed Walker is briefing her troops. As the huddle breaks, Kiefer intercepts Walker and asks what's going on. He walks with her down the hallway as she explains about Galvez, who's trapped inside a perimeter with a canister of the bioweapon. "Is Larry in command of the perimeter?" Kiefer asks. "Larry was killed in a firefight," Walker says matter-of-factly. "What?" Kiefer gasps, grabbing her arm to stop her, and possibly also because he's annoyed at her for burying the lede like that. She says that Tony was wounded and is still at the scene. "Larry's dead?" Kiefer repeats. Do try to keep up, Kiefer. Walker confirms it and shakes him off so she can head out. Kiefer goes running off in the other direction, probably to return to his debriefing so he can finish it up in time for the commercial.
Back at the scene, a paramedic (the same one who worked on Dubaku this afternoon, I think) is checking out Tony, having just bandaged up his side. Apparently he just missed his splenic artery. The EMT wants Tony to go to the hospital, but Tony refuses, and also turns down any pain meds. Instead, he limps over to the mobile command center, where a whole AV wall has been set up in record time to monitor the search. While Tony quietly takes in everything on the various displays, an unsuspecting Park tells Tony to get some rest, so Tony steps away, dialing his cell phone. He gets Galvez on the phone to tell him he's got a clear path inside the search grid for now, and he's got about thirty minutes to do what Tony tells him. Which is to take the C-4 Tony gave him earlier, find a building to lure as many FBI agents as possible into, and blow up the building with them inside. You know, I'm starting to believe that Tony might actually be evil. "You want me to blow up a couple of dozen FBI agents?" Galvez asks. "You got a problem with that?" Tony says. Galvez is still worried about the perimeter, but Tony says he has that figured out as well. I smell a cunning plan.
At FBI, Walker climbs on board the chopper as it's spinning up. Don't ask me how they got it back there, with a dead pilot and all. Or maybe this is just chopper two. As she waits for it to lift off, suddenly the other back door opens and Kiefer climbs in to her. Walker tries to stop him, but Kiefer's showing off his lauded stubbornness: "You want to keep arguing about this and waste more time? Fine. I'm not getting out." So the chopper takes off with him in it. It's 2:13:23.
At 2:17:52, the woman now posing as Hodges's attorney -- or, as I plan to call her until we get a name, the Faux-yer -- enters the White House via the south entrance. The guards check her ID and her thumbprint, and after a tense moment, she's cleared to be escorted to White House Jail. That was way easier than coming in through a tunnel under the Potomac.
After being absent the entire hour, Olivia's back from her reporter-screwing expedition. She and her mom charge down a White House hallway, talking about the Galvez situation. "He's already murdered four people," Olivia says. "Including Larry Moss." Taylor is brought up short by that, but continues sadly on as Olivia tells her a search is underway. As they reach the Oval Office, Olivia says that since Galvez is a Starkwood employee, this has to be Hodges's doing. But Taylor isn't so sure, given what Hodges told her earlier about being "a small cog in a very large machine." Olivia doesn't want to credit that, but Taylor says he needs to be interrogated at the FBI. Ooh, a prisoner transfer! Those always go well on this show. Olivia's objection, however, is less superstitious than mine: "He's a sociopath, mom. He's not going to talk. He's going to want to make some kind of deal in exchange for his cooperation." When Olivia sees that Taylor's considering doing just that, she reminds him of what happened to Roger. You know, back when Olivia still wasn't talking to her. "Just get him to FBI," Taylor insists.
Hodges is dozing on the bunk of his cell when the sergeant guarding him tells him his attorney is there. "It's about damn time," Hodges says, getting up. Yes, he's been under arrest for nearly an hour. Upon turning around and looking through the bars, he clearly sees that's not his attorney, but he plays it cool. She asks the sergeant for some privacy. When the two of them are alone, Hodges remarks, "You're a little taller than her, but it's a good look for you." Totally misreading the situation, he smarms, "I'm not going to ask how you got in, but I'm definitely interested in how you're going to get me out." Feet first? Actually, that's kind of what she wanted to talk to him about. She explains to him about how he's in a "difficult position," and thanks to him, so is everyone else. Hodges isn't exactly repentant. "Where the hell were they when the government came after my company, when Senator Mayer and his subpoena-waving goon squad were trying to ruin me and everything I built?" Nice to see that sense of entitlement he has isn't just directed at the government. She says he and Starkwood would have been protected (which, maybe it would have been smart to tell him that earlier) but he fucked things up. "That bioweapon that you developed for us was not intended for personal use. The consensus is that you've had some sort of psychotic break." Hodges denies it, predictably and futilely. At first I thought she was coming in here as an assassin, but even if she thought she could be escorted in there with him alone, kill him, and get back out, she wouldn't be talking to him this long. Hodges wants to talk to "them," but she says he's already exposed himself and may expose the others, even when he says he doesn't even know who they are. "You know enough, and they need to be certain. I think we can agree that there's no reason for your family to pay for your mistakes." Hodges has a family? Dear God, can you imagine living with that drama queen? Every time he wants you to pass the salt or mow the lawn it would be this whole histrionic production about everything he's done for you for however many years. Hodges thinks she's threatening them, but she says, "I'm here to guarantee your family's safety. If you do the right thing." Which is when she holds out a small red pill. Shouldn't there also be a blue one in her other hand? Apparently it's an untraceable drug that will induce cardiac arrest. "A natural, dignified death," she claims. "Without you to prosecute, the case against you and your company will be difficult, likely impossible. Preserving at least some small part of Starkwood's legacy of patriotic service. Which I know is very important to you." Hodges looks pained, but he reaches through the bars and takes the pill from her hand. Not a moment too soon, because in walk the sergeant and Olivia, who tells them that Hodges is being moved to FBI. "In some countries they'd have shot him by now," she adds charmingly. Very nice, coming from a White House Chief of Staff. The Faux-yer lets it slide, which should have been a sign to anyone paying attention that she isn't a real attorney. As Olivia watches, the Faux-yer leaves the room, and Hodges is fitted with leg irons. Fortunately he's too distracted by thoughts of his own imminent suicide to unspool another self-righteous filibuster.
In the hallway outside, the Faux-yer flips open her phone and gets Will Patton on the line. You remember Will Patton as the villain in everything from No Way Out to The Postman, so right away we know this latest in a long line of powerful conspiracies is really, really for real. "I'm quite certain he understands our terms," the Faux-yer assures him, and tells him about the FBI transfer. She figures that will put more pressure on Hodges "to resolve the situation sooner rather than later." Will Patton asks about Tony, who she apparently talked to earlier, when he wasn't busy blowing up Starkwood or being in federal custody or pretending to get shot at. "He's your guy, he better not screw this up," Will Patton warns her. "Tony's been the one bright spot in an otherwise dreary day," she says. "I have faith he'll come through." Wow, someone's smitten. And not at all in a faux way.
At 2:23:43, Tony is being asked to come through for Galvez. His accomplice is calling him on his cell phone from an abandoned apartment building just inside the north perimeter, at Rincon and 12th. Tony sees it on the grid, and tells Galvez he's got about twenty minutes before the searching agents reach him. "Maybe you should get off the phone and get to it," he says when Galvez complains about the time frame. So Galvez does, laying out four narrow bricks of C-4 on a handy surface. It would be more, but Tony already used some to blow up Galvez's former workplace.
As the helicopter flies over D.C. Kiefer unhooks his seat belt and slides over closer to Walker. Smooth. he'll pretend to yawn as an excuse to put an arm around her, or better yet, fake a seizure for a similar purpose. "Oh, no, I'm going to swallow my tongue! Quick, grab it with your teeth!" But first he says, "I lost two partners in a row." While we're quietly wondering if it isn't more like thirteen or fourteen, he clarifies, "Early on." He says he couldn't handle it, and that's why he's been pretty much working alone over the past ten years. He tells her it's okay to feel what she's feeling, and if she can't do it, that's okay. "Just don't try and pretend like you're not feeling anything. That's how you make a mistake." She cuts him off, saying, "Don't tell me what to feel and don't tell me how to feel it." Ooh, shut down! And he didn't even get to try the old popcorn-box-with-a-hole-in-the-bottom trick.
Right about then is when the helicopter lands. From behind the chain link fence, Tony watches Walker climb out, and then Kiefer. This just got harder, he thinks as he goes to meet them. As he leads them over to where Moss is laid out under a sheet on a gurney, he tells Kiefer he got lucky with the way he got shot (indeed he did, with no visible powder burns or GSR), and that he didn't expect to see Kiefer. "I'm only here for observation," Kiefer grumps. Now they're in sight of the covered corpse, and Kiefer tells Walker, "You do not have to do this." But she insists, and the paramedic from before uncovers Moss. She takes in the blood on his face and his side, then turns away. Kiefer examines the body with a more clinical eye while Tony starts to look kind of nervous. Tony tells Walker, "I'm sorry about Larry." She demands to know how this happened, a clear accusation in her tone. While Kiefer busies himself by looking over the bullet casings that were collected from the scene in their little Ziploc bags, Tony tells the truth about what happened when they landed, right up until the order in which he and Moss got shot. "Once I was tagged, Larry came over to help me out and that's when he was hit. I blacked out after that, but I'm pretty sure Larry saved my life." That was a nice touch. Kiefer points out the armor-piercing rounds that hit Moss, which obviously didn't hit Tony. The paramedic pipes up to say that Tony's wound looked like it was from a nine-millimeter. That strikes Kiefer as odd, since they've collected .45 casings from the scene. Sloppy, Tony. To cover himself, he "speculates" that Galvez might have switched weapons more than once during the firefight, but Kiefer's not buying it. "Someone was with him," he insists. Tony says he didn't think so, but allows that might be possible. "One man didn't do this alone, he had help," Kiefer says, more accurately than he realizes. Walker's off to let everyone know they might be looking for more than one guy, and Kiefer confirms that Tony's okay. He is, but he's got that shifty-ass look again. It's 2:28:32.
At 2:32:54, Spawn's in the back of a cab crossing D.C. as she calls home. Her adorable boyfriend claims not to have been woken up. "Who can sleep after what happened today?" he asks. I don't know, I seem to manage it most Monday nights. He asks about Kiefer in a not-entirely-approving tone, and after a pause, she sobs, "He's dying, Steve." He says he's sorry, and she tells him she's coming home to L.A. He wonders why she doesn't want to stay, and she says, "My presence right now will only make things worse." Yes, Kim, we've all noticed that about you. "Did you at least tell him about his granddaughter?" Steve asks, getting up and patting the head of a baby in a pack & play. Whoa, say what? I am shocked! What is that kid doing up at 11:30 PM? Kim looks for a minute like she just totally forgot, which I could easily believe. But then she explains that "I couldn't bring myself to tell him I wasn't the only person he was leaving behind. Telling him about Teri would have only made it worse." Or it might have changed Kiefer's mind. How reassuring to know that even amid all of this season's deaths and Chloe's long absences and Tony's reversals, Spawn is still a moron. Also, did you notice how she named her daughter after her late mom? I know we're supposed to think that's sweet, but all I can think of is that the young child of Spawn, saddled with Teri's name, is surely destined to be the most cursed 24 character in history. Spawn might as well have given birth to a handsome black agent.
At 2:34:43, Kiefer's pacing around near the mobile command center, trying to keep his shit together. But despite his pain, he's not too wrecked to go and backseat-drive the search, asking why one area isn't cleared yet. Walker relays the question over her radio, and the answer comes back that the residents "aren't too happy about their homes being searched without a warrant at 2:30 in the morning." What is this, some kind of fancy gated community? Walker barks at him to arrest anyone who interferes, because it's been hours and hours since she last pissed off the Attorney General. Kiefer has to step away for an injection break. Tony follows him and watches him shoot up, just in time to prevent a full-on spazz attack. Upon noticing Tony's watchful presence, Kiefer explains that it's anti-seizure medicine. And it's self-refilling, apparently. "I should have used it earlier." Tony wonders why Kiefer isn't at FBI Medical for treatment, until Kiefer tells him there isn't one. A treatment, that is. Tony says he's sorry, and asks why Kiefer's out there. Kiefer says that Walker just lost her partner. "I thought I could help," Kiefer says. "I owe her that much." Then maybe he could try to remember that Moss was her boss.
Just then, at 2:36:27, Walker's walkie-talkie crackles to life with a staticky call purporting to be from an Agent Stoller with a "Code Yellow." But it is in fact Galvez, who is calling in on Stoller's walkie-talkie, literally over Stoller's dead body. Judging by the bloody corpse sprawled out near Galvez, Stoller was either killed by Galvez or walked into something sharp at a very convenient moment. Simulating static with a knife point in the radio's grille, Galvez-as-Stoller claims to have sighted... uh... himself, with the canister. Kiefer comes over and jumps on comm, asking if Galvez is alone. Galvez says the suspect is by himself, and entering an abandoned apartment building on Rincon and 12th. Walker tells him to wait for backup. While Park is relating the info to the field teams, Galvez gets busy stealing the late Stoller's ID lanyard and FBI windbreaker. Walker starts to lead her people over to the vehicles, and when she realizes that Kiefer isn't joining her, he whispers, "I can't." Walker's concerned about him, but he says he'll be fine, watching the show from back here. Well, good, she'd hate for him to be bored. "I still think Galvez has a partner. You watch your back," he warns. She follows her people out, leaving Kiefer alone with Tony and a small monitoring crew. And, for the second act-out in a row, Tony's shifty expression. It's 2:38:02.
At 2:42:32, the Faux-yer precedes Hodges and his soldier escort through one of the White House's more civilized hallways. As they part ways at the south entrance, they exchange a significant look. Just as Hodges is about to be loaded into the prisoner van waiting just outside, he notices the tattoo inside the sergeant's forearm, and grabs it to have a better look. Somehow he gets to keep his hand. "You served with the 27th in Pakistan," Hodges says to the soldier. As he's helped into the back, he asks whether the soldier met any Starkwood units while he was there, and asks how they did. "They were good men, sir. Well trained," the sergeant says, as he steps out the back. That's what Hodges needed to hear. "You just made my day." The doors shut on him, and the van pulls out. There's a short scene whose point is to show that Hodges is visible from the front seat through a grate, and then Hodges secretly reaches into his pocket for the little red pill. With the two soldiers looking ahead cluelessly, he pops the pill without even asking for a glass of water. Seconds later, he clasps his throat, alarming the soldiers. The van screeches to a halt and the sergeant runs around to attend to Hodges, telling someone on an earpiece he suddenly has that they're rerouting to West Arlington Hospital and to be ready with an emergency medical team. The van peels out again, but not until he's had a chance to deliver his big line for the stationary camera. Wait, West Arlington? Oh, Hodges and Henry Taylor are going to have so much to talk about.
At 2:45:14, silver FBI SUVs screech into position around the trap Galvez has laid for them. Walker comms to Galvez, who she still thinks is Stoller, and he says he's in the east stairwell, and that the suspect is on the top floor and still appears to be alone. Walker gives her people their instructions: because they still suspect Galvez has an accomplice, they're clearing the building room by room. Which will probably save a few lives in a minute, since it means the agents won't all be concentrated in one area of the building. She calls back to the mobile command center, where Kiefer has just donned a bulletproof vest under his jacket, and tells the hazmat teams to be ready. "How you holding up?" Tony asks Kiefer. "Better, thanks," Kiefer says, unaware that his jacket just got lighter. While the FBI agents begin swarming the building, Kiefer's cell phone rings. It's the FBI stenographer, who wants to clear something up, since "some new information has come to light." Kiefer tries to tell him this isn't a good time, but he presses on. "You told me Tony Almeida's source on the White House attack was a man identified to you as Vincent Cardiff?" Kiefer confirms it, even when the stenographer reminds him, "You yourself have voiced some concern about your own acuity." Who talks like that? But Kiefer's gotten distracted by one of the screens before him, which shows a list of all the FBI agents deployed within the perimeter. He hangs up on he steno and asks the monitoring guy what he's looking at. Well, you and I know what the list of FBI agents' names, all to the code "L-26" must mean, especially when we can see a lone "S-23" to Stoller's. But Kiefer makes the guy do a map overlay anyway. "What's going on, Jack?" Tony asks, when he should really be getting in a car and driving as far away as he can. Kiefer says he isn't sure. Which is what Tony wanted to hear.
At 2:46:59, agents are kicking in doors inside the building, Walker among them. Even in the darkness, nobody seems to notice any of the little black boxes with blinking red lights on them placed at strategic points. Galvez is watching from a hiding pace on the block. And by now, Kiefer's map is up on the screen back at the command center, showing a couple of dozen FBI blips inside the building, and one significantly distant one: the one marked Stoller. "He's not even in the building," Kiefer says. He tells Walker to pull her men out. "It's a trap. Stoller's not even in there. Get your men out now!" Overhearing this on Stoller's radio, Galvez realizes the game is up. He starts dialing the detonation code into his cell phone while Walker runs though the halls yelling, "Code Blue!" And then the building blows up, many times, and from multiple angles. Although there wasn't enough C-4 in there to bring down the building entirely, just send fireballs erupting from every window. It's visible from the mobile command post, and Kiefer dispatches Tony to get them a car while the monitoring guy tries to raise his bosses. Park is alive and calling for help from the perimeter teams. Kiefer belays that order, telling them to hold position or else they'll lose the suspect and the canister. Besides, it's not like he knows most of these people who just got blown up anyway. "Tell your men to stand fast, medevac is on its way."
At 2:52:54, Galvez, in his stolen FBI gear, blends into the chaos around the burning building. He kind of sticks out by being the calmest one there, but no one notices as he enters the building he just blew up. By now, Kiefer and Tony are being dropped off at the building, and Tony goes in while Kiefer stays outside to talk to Agent Park. He's mostly concerned about Walker, of course, but Park doesn't know where she is, so Kiefer rushes in, calling Walker on his walkie-talkie the whole time. I bet one way to avoid dying of the CJD strain in his system would be to run into a burning building.
Meanwhile, Tony has found Galvez inside the building. Galvez shows him the canister again, and bends down to smear blood from a handy dead agent on his shirt and face. Galvez, "blood on your hands" is typically understood to be just an expression.
At 2:54:16, Kiefer's making his way through the halls, calling Walker's first name. He rolls over a body, but luckily, it's a dude. Probably not Walker, then. Finally she answers his call, and he finds her mostly unhurt and trying to give a fellow agent CPR. He bellows for a medic, who arrives immediately so Kiefer can lead her out of the building, while she holds her left forearm painfully. He explains how he knew it was a trap, and that he told everyone to keep the perimeter secure. Walker says it's weird; this was the last building they were going to search. Well, it's always the last place you look. "You think they knew your sweep patterns?" Kiefer asks, and Walker says they must have. Suddenly Kiefer realizes something, and tells Walker he'll meet her at her car.
Tony is pretending to help a fake-wounded Galvez out of the building, declining a paramedic's help.
Kiefer's leaving the building as he's back on the phone with the FBI stenographer, who's still trying to clean up his record of the day while, hopefully unbeknownst to him, several dozen of his colleagues are actively on fire in the other half of the splitscreen. "You told me that [Cardiff] expired during the course of the interrogation?" Well that's awkward, because Vincent Cardiff just got nabbed by Customs about an hour ago, trying to cross into Canada. And he's in perfect shape, too. Right then is when Kiefer spots Tony at a distance, still "helping" Galvez along, and he hangs up to go in pursuit. He'd better hurry, because Tony has already loaded Galvez into the back of an ambulance, and set the duffel bag inside. "Tony!" Kiefer roars from behind them. Tony and Galvez give each other a look, both of them knowing that Tony's getting the fuzzy end of this particular lollipop, and Tony shuts the doors and sends the emergency vehicle on its way with a pat on the door. "We need to talk," Kiefer whispers when he catches up with Tony. Unfortunately, he's so focused on Tony that he doesn't give a second thought to the guy he just watched him spirit away. Tony acts all agreeable, and then suddenly Kiefer pulls his gun on him. "I told you earlier today if you were lying to me, I'd kill you myself." Actually you said you'd turn him in, but whatever. Tony pretends not to know what Kiefer's talking about, so Kiefer tells him about how Cardiff is alive. Rather than wasting time being pissed at his "source" for having the bad grace to get pinched when he was supposed to be dead, Tony claims he just cut Cardiff loose in exchange for the intel. "I thought it was just a meaningless lie." Kiefer is getting a little shaky as he says, "You and I have been doing this long enough to know that there is no such thing as a meaningless lie." Especially when it's Tony. "How are you involved in this?" he demands. Tony reminds Kiefer that the intel was good, after all, but Kiefer's just getting madder and louder. "How were you shot? Does Galvez even have a second man, or was it just you?" Tony says this sounds like crazy paranoia, and advises Kiefer to put the gun down. It's going down soon one way or another, as Kiefer's hand is already pretty shaky. Finally, Tony proves that he's gone well and truly evil by Going There and telling Kiefer that the pathogen is affecting his judgment. And ultimately, Kiefer sinks to the ground and has another seizure. He's helpless to prevent Tony from taking the gun from him, and then Tony finally shows his hand. "This what you're looking for?" he asks, holding out the little case of syringes he must have lifted from Kiefer at some point -- probably when Kiefer took off his jacket to put on that bulletproof vest. Some safety precaution. Tony claims he never wanted to hurt Kiefer. "I told you to stay out of it, but you wouldn't listen, would you?" Just then a couple of paramedics wander up, and Tony pretends to ask them for help while Kiefer continues seizing, unable to keep Tony from just walking away, or to even say a word. Tony had better hope this one kills him.
In other splitscreen windows, the Faux-yer drives along, peeling off her fake thumbprint and her blonde wig, which was really quite convincing; Spawn's still in the cab to the airport, possibly because the driver has picked up a crazy person or sex offender to menace her in an upcoming episode; Hodges is being rolled out on a gurney at the hospital; and Taylor does what all POTUSes do at times like this, which is sit at her desk thinking.
The ambulance carrying Galvez is clear of the perimeter by now, and the paramedic in the back can't find anything wrong with him other than the blood all over him. He goes to roll Galvez on his side to look for a wound in the back, which is when Galvez comes to life and sticks his knife into the paramedic's neck. The EMT who's doing the driving is slow enough to react that Galvez has time to come up front with his knife and order him to put down the radio mike he was just about to speak into, and to keep driving. Takes some stones to hijack an ambulance, dude. It's 3:00.00.
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, or just e-mail him at M.Giant[at]gmail.com.
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