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Kevin is still leaning on Dana to pay attention to him instead of the international crisis she's working on. Worse, he's blackmailing her into using her CTU access to help him pull off a big score. He promises he'll leave her alone after this, but I think we all know better.
In the wake of Farhad's attempted coup against Hassan, the president is ordering nationwide crackdowns back home. Taylor worries that this might threaten her peace process, but Hassan won't budge. And nor will his wife in her insistence on leaving him.
Bazhaev's son Josef insists on taking his brother -- the one dying of radiation sickness -- to a clinic in defiance of their father's orders. And he short-circuits a whole national debate by showing that health care is easy to get if you're willing to point a gun at a doctor and threaten his family.
But enough of the B, C and D plots. Kiefer decides to go along with Walker, even though she's now demonstrated herself to be a witness-mutilating psycho. And said mutilee is willing to take her to Vladimir, with Kiefer following behind and using her hidden earpiece to feed her the info she needs for their cover story. Vladimir turns out to be a pretty dangerous guy who has a violent history with Walker. Her first contact with him goes okay, until she and Ziya are stuffed in the trunk of a car, cutting her off from Kiefer. He thinks it's all over and has Hastings get ready to call in the cavalry on the car he's following, only to learn it's a decoy. Vladimir's just about ready to execute Walker, but doesn't -- because she tells him to. Chalk up one more failed suicide attempt for Renee Walker. But at least the con is still on, and Kiefer still has a chance to find the uranium in the four hours before Farhad gets his hands on it.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Tonight's previouslies focus on Farhad Hassan, President Omar Hassan, Sergei Bazhaev, Renee Walker, and Jack Bauer. Some of those people might even get more than five minutes of screen time tonight.
Hey, it's daytime, even though the following takes place between 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM! Maybe the medieval domes and minarets and the subtitle reading "Islamic Republic of Kamistan" might have something to do with that. And with the exotic Arabian Nights music on the soundtrack. This isn't the first time the name Kamistan has appeared onscreen -- it showed up in a episode on a TV news channel's subtitle -- but this is the first time it's been so clearly communicated. And is it a coincidence that the initials of Hassan's fractious home country are IRK?
In an apartment somewhere, some dude in a well-worn military uniform is watching Not Al Jazeera, which is reporting in subtitled Arabic that "forces loyal to President Hassan initiated a series of arrests against traitors attempting to overthrow the government. Suspects have been identified in all branches of the government." Someone's been a busy boy, from halfway around the world, no less. An underling brings the watcher a satellite phone. It's Farhad on the other end, saying he's still a free man and with Bazhaev. But the general -- I can tell he's a general by the insignia on his uniform and because Farhad addresses him as "general" -- says Bazhaev ruined everything, and their guys are getting rounded up all over the country. Farhad assures the general that the Americans will put a stop to that, for the sake of the peace talks. What are they going to do, invade? Anything for peace, I guess. "Once we have the uranium, my brother will become irrelevant anyway," he adds, which sounds like kind of a leap. He says he needs the money wired to Bazhaev's account.
Bazhaev and his elder son Josef are currently ministering to the youngest Bazhaev, who you'll recall is busy dying of radiation poisoning in the pantry of the restaurant. They feed him some water and leave him to get back to it. But out in the dining room, Josef floats the idea of bringing his younger brother, Oleg, to a doctor he found in Mount Vernon. Josef says he knows the doctor's family and where they live, so they can keep him quiet. Bazhaev says it's too risky; with the Americans looking for weapons-grade uranium, the last thing they need is for a Bazhaev to turn up at a hospital with signs of exposure to just that. In short, Bazhaev's prepared to let his youngest die. Josef protests the conditions under which Oleg is currently doing that, and after staring stone-faced into Josef's big puppy-dog eyes for a long moment, Bazhaev agrees to let him take Oleg to the country house. He doesn't need Josef for anything else right now? Because these hours usually seem pretty busy for everyone. Josef turns gratefully to comply, just as one of Bazhaev's goons reports that Farhad wants to talk to him now.
Bazhaev goes and finds Farhad waiting in a back room. They confirm that the money is being wired and Farhad will have the rods in five hours. "I'll help you pass the time," Bazhaev offers, and calls out, "Irina, Svetlana, davai, davai." Out come a couple of Russian prostitutes. Now that's customer service. Bazhaev asks Farhad which one he prefers, and since Farhad doesn't care (both of them look to have about an equal number of miles on them), Bazhaev leaves both of them for Farhad to play with. Farhad certainly drives a hard bargain. And that won't be the only hard thing he'll be driving.
Back at the auto shop, Walker is struggling to tie a tourniquet around Ziya's arm. And although I'd thought she'd taken his whole hand off, the only part that looks to be missing is the thumb. I guess that'll teach me to not look closely at horrible power-tool-inflicted mutilations in the future. But how much would it suck for Ziya if she hadn't cut off quite enough to clear the bracelet? "Sorry, just have to take off another half-inch here." BZZZZT! "Oh, so close! Hang on a second..." Kiefer comes up with something to cauterize the wound, and he pours it over the raw, bloody flesh that we really didn't need a close-up of. That done, he whips out his cell phone to call Hastings, because he still thinks this needs to be shut down. Walker protests that this was the only move they had and insists that Ziya will still cooperate. "How do you figure?" Kiefer snits sarcastically. Renee explains, "The only thing Ziya likes more than 13-year-old girls is money. He'd have butchered himself for a score like this." That's nice. It's good how whenever our heroes mutilate someone to get undercover, that person is also a sex offender in addition to whatever else they're into. Kiefer insists that Hastings needs to know that Walker is "unstable." Whoa, the last thing you want to call an unstable person is unstable. He steps off, and in a more conciliatory tone, says that he gets it after all she's been through. She claims she came out on the other side, which is a bold statement for someone who just permanently destroyed half of a guy's hitchhiking equipment. Kiefer agrees with me, but she insists that she's the only one who can get the uranium. Her voice cold but her eyes wet, she asks if he's making the phone call. As Ziya begins to stir, he gives in and tells her to keep at it. "And don't forget, I'm listening." Thanks for the tip, Frasier.
Just as he leaves the shop, Ziya's eyes flutter open. They go to his wrecked hand and he starts in screaming like a preschooler. "You crazy bitch, you cut off thumb!" As preschoolers often scream. He's crying like she took the finger he uses to diddle middle-schoolers or something. She wisely avoids the kind of clichés one would use in dealing with a hysterical person, because telling him to get a grip or to pull himself together would be counterproductive at best under the circumstances. Instead, she claims that his share of the deal she's working on could net him millions. He's still complaining and she gets up to leave, but he tells her to wait, saying he knows where Vladimir might be. And he'll even take her there. Walker says she'll drive his truck, and helps him to his feet. Should she maybe stick that thumb in a Thermos full of ice or something before they go?
Meanwhile, in the car outside, Kiefer gets a phone call from Chloe. She just found out that Ziya has a probation officer, and is wondering what Kiefer wants to do about that. Kiefer tells her it's all covered. Chloe wonders how they're dealing with Ziya's bracelet without triggering the alarm. "Trust me, it's been taken care of," Kiefer says grimly, but won't tell Chloe any more than "Renee got the result she wanted. Ziya's taking her to Vladimir." Chloe seems to accept that and says that Dana's working on his cover ID. She says she'll call when it's ready, as Kiefer pulls out to follow Ziya's truck down the road. Which should be easy; to avoid being spotted, he can hang back a safe distance and just follow the trail of Ziya's body parts Walker will certainly be leaving as they go.
At 8:09:22, Chloe goes over to Dana's desk to check on her progress with the cover ID. Dana says she's almost finished, but Chloe keeps hovering over Dana's shoulder as her cell phone rings with a call from home, wondering if Dana shouldn't get that. Dana does, and Chloe still keeps hovering until Dana dismisses her with a hint that even Chloe can't miss. Dana tells Kevin -- for of course it is he who is calling -- that she told him not to call her. He's being as obedient and non-creepy as always. Dana says she'll see him when her shift ends in the morning, but Kevin's not okay with that, and gives her fifteen minutes to get home. But when she balks, he gives her thirty. "Who said I can't be reasonable?" he asks reasonably. But because he has to keep reminding her how things work between them now, he gives her a little preview of what he might say to Dana's boyfriend if he has to call him: "Hey, pal, congratulations on the engagement! By the way, her name is not Dana Walsh. It's Jenny Scott. And did I mention that she's an ex-con? No, nothing too serious. Just an accessory to murder's all." Whatever, like CTU hasn't employed worse. In fact, she's right in the middle of the bell curve, if you ask me. But thirty minutes it is.
Dana goes over to Arlo to ask him something. He creepily acts like she's asking him out. She's too stressed to even kick him in the goolies and simply says she has to go home for a bit. When he points out that it's not a great time, she promises it won't be long, but she needs him to cover for her by finishing up the profiles for Walker and Kiefer and sending them to Chloe as soon as he's done. And he's going to do that with what, aerial drones? I can't believe she can just hand this off like this, but as she leaves, she says she owes him one. "One what?" he asks creepily. How about one kick in the goolies? She casts a guilty glance at Cole, who is talking to someone else, and manages to sneak out without him seeing her. It's 8:11:42.
It's 8:15:54 at the U.N. President Taylor's Chief of Staff, Rob Weiss, joins her in a conference room just as she's finishing up a phone call with some prime minister of something. She happily tells Rob that of the twelve heads of state she's talked to, they're all still planning to show up tomorrow for the signing ceremony. Rob says he has less good news, which is how it's not until now that Taylor learns about CTU's suspicion that Farhad is buying weapons-grade uranium from a Russian mob. "It's what we've been afraid of since the Wall came down," says Ethan, who wandered back in after being missing for the entire last hour. Really? Then why did they let Farhad in here in the first place? Oh, I guess he's speaking more generally. Ethan wonders if Hassan knows about this, and Rob tells him Hassan was the one who alerted them. Ethan says that helps explain why Hassan's security forces are running amok back in Kamistan. It's effectively martial law over there now. "Who can blame him?" Rob mutters, realizing that Farhad couldn't have been acting alone. Ethan and Taylor, however, point out that it looks bad for Hassan to be breaking his own laws and running roughshod over human rights, to the point where it threatens the credibility of the peace process. Rob says Hassan will be back in ten minutes, and Taylor says she wants to talk to him alone when he arrives. Sounds like someone's about to get a spanking.
In the shotgun seat of his own truck, Ziya right-thumbs the cap off a bottle and takes a few swigs, until Walker lectures that she needs his wits about him. He does seem quite calm now, considering he's only been an amputee for under twenty minutes. With Kiefer still listening in from the car behind, Ziya says, "I'm surprise you take deal to him again. After what he did to you?" Walker just asks how much further. Ziya talks about how Walker doesn't want to talk about Vladimir, and talks and talks and talks about it, until she repeats the question, louder. "Ten minute," he says. "Touchy, touchy." But at least now she isn't telling him to lay off the booze. How awesome would it be if they got pulled over and busted for an open container violation right now? That would put rather a crimp in Walker's little plan.
Kiefer's cell phone rings. It's Chloe, alerting him that she's uploading their cover profiles to Kiefer's data pad. After making sure that Walker can't hear them, Kiefer asks Chloe to look into Walker's file and see what it says about her and Vladimir. "I need to know everything that happened between them." Nosy much?
At 8:19:19, we're back at the U.N., and so is Hasssan, already. Seven minutes ahead of schedule. He enters the room where Taylor is waiting, and blows past her polite pleasantries: "If this is about my security forces and the necessary steps I'm taking back home, I'm afraid I can't help you." Taylor wonders if they're really necessary, and Hassan says this was a coup, by the same people who are trying to restart the country's nuke program. As she continues to fuss, he lays it out for her: "The only real law is power. Any perceived weakness on my part and I'm finished...My brother tried to kill me. Helped by elements within my own government. Those elements must now be purged." Taylor is shocked that he's talking about executions. "It is the only thing my people understand," Hassan says. What's he doing here at all, then? Taylor argues, "The world is trusting you because I trust you." She wants him to find a middle ground in the name of peace. "I need to see my family now," is all he says, and walks out. Wow, you try to kill a guy once and he goes all hardcore on you.
At 8:21:12, Josef drives Oleg down the road, saying he found a doctor who can help, but their father shot the idea down. "Papa's right," Oleg says. "What happened is my own fault. The family shouldn't have to pay for my mistake." They exchange some compliments, and Josef is so moved that he heaves the wheel over, nearly causing an accident in his rush to make the turn. He's taking Oleg to the doctor after all. "I don't care what Papa said! I'm not letting you die without a fight!" It's 8:22:16. Maybe during the commercials, Josef could take a moment to recall what happened to George Mason in Season Two after he was fatally dosed with radiation. No, scratch that -- we don't want Josef chartering Oleg a plane.
8:26:35. At the Hassan residence inside the U.N., Mrs. Hassan is packing her shit to go. So apparently she's heard all about Meredith Reed, in a scene we never got to see. Her daughter, loyal as always to Hassan, tries to get her to stay, but she refuses. "You think your father is one way, but he is not what you think," the wife says. The daughter complains about her mother's habit of implying things without saying them. Dalia says it's better that way, while she's doing it again. Kayla is just calling her on that when Hassan himself comes in. His daughter hugs him happily, since this is the first time she's seen him since she thought he was dead, but he says he needs to talk to her mom alone. She obediently leaves the room, and Hassan tries to talk to his wife, but gets the cold shoulder. She asks, "Do you love her?" Hassan says it's over, but that isn't what she asked, and she repeats the question. "Maybe I thought I did," he says. He asks her not to go. "Don't worry, I won't make a scene," she says, and he acts hurt that she thinks that's what he's worried about. Hassan lays out his problems: "My brother's a traitor. My highest officers are conspiring against me, and now President Taylor is threatening to pull out of the peace talks." She says he hasn't asked her advice for a long time. Was he asking? Whether he was or not, he wisely says her advice was always the best. She appreciates him remembering that, but says they're over. She takes her suitcase and purse and heads. So maybe their society isn't as closed as Hassan suggested.
At 8:29:59, Walker pulls Ziya's truck into an alley behind a warehouse. He says this is one of the places Vladimir operates out of. He remains unaware of Kiefer's presence in the car behind them, but then who knows how much of that liquor bottle is still left? Walker asks Ziya to go to Vladimir first, to sort of break it to him gently that she's back. Instead of objecting, as I would, that this sounds like a fantastic way to get himself killed, Ziya agrees and gets out of the truck. While Kiefer's watching Ziya walk to the entrance, he's startled by Walker asking in his earpiece whether their cover is in place. She wants to go over it while Ziya's inside. But Kiefer wants to know about her history with Vladimir first. Nice -- holding the information she needs hostage when she's the one about to walk into the lion's den, because he's nosy. Walker doesn't want to talk about it with Kiefer any more than she did with Ziya, whom she blows off as a "drama queen." Kiefer snits at her to give a straight answer, and she insists they quit wasting time and get to work on their cover. Kiefer gives in to her for the second time this hour. "I'm a Munich-based arms dealer named Ernst Meier," Kiefer begins. "We met in Mexico City. You became my liaison to the locals." Are we going to get to see Kiefer do a German accent? And will it be better than his Southern one in Monsters Vs. Aliens?
Some Russian goons let Ziya in the warehouse, but he doesn't get the warm welcome he expected. In fact, when Vladimir himself comes out, he says, "I should kill you for even thinking of coming here," and pops Ziya in the face. Vladimir, as alluded to in a recap, is being played by Callum Keith Rennie with a Russian accent. The B*G alums are getting pretty thick on the ground here. Ziya's still reeling from Vladimir's blow when Vladimir grabs him and puts a gun to his temple, yelling at him for coming here with a tracking bracelet. Ziya shows Vladimir his bandaged hand and says Walker cut it off, babbling about the deal she was alluding to. Vladimir asks his lieutenant what he thinks, and it's clear that that guy never trusted Walker in the first place. "She shows up out of the blue, and sixteen months later the Feds are down our throats." It took her sixteen months? How long is this season going to be, anyway? But Walker is clearly Vladimir's kryptonite, so he wants to see her. He tells Ziya to clean himself up, and then bring Walker inside. It's 8:33:32.
8:37:46. Cole shows up at Arlo's desk looking for Dana, and learns she went home, although Arlo doesn't know why. Cole looks confused. Thanks for stopping by this week, FPJ.
Hesitantly, Dana knocks on her own apartment door. "It's me, you have my key?" she reminds Kevin when he asks who it is. He opens up and smarms, "Nice of you to drop by." She's in no mood, especially when she comes in and finds an even more disreputable-looking character lounging on her couch and watching her TV. "That's Nick, he's a buddy of mine from Beaumont," Kevin says. She hisses at Kevin to kick him out, but Kevin refuses. "It'd be impolite." Wow, who'da thunk Kevin's a bottom? She puts her purse down on the kitchen counter and pulls out a wad of bills to give Kevin. It's five hundred dollars, the max from the ATM, and she'll have another five hundred for him in the morning. Shaking his head, he sets it down on the counter, carefully lining up their edges with the edge of the counter like he's getting in touch with his inner Monk, and quietly accuses her of thinking he's stupid. She denies it, and is also denying that she's trying to buy him off when he suddenly grabs her by the throat and pushes her against the wall. Nick watches impassively from the sofa. She asks what he wants, and he yells in her ear that he wants her to quit treating him "like some dumb-ass nineteen-year-old stick-up artist with a fast car. You're not the only one who's grown up." With his face against hers, he says he's been waiting for this, and she owes him. She says she never testified against him, and he smacks her to the floor, yelling at her not to lie. I know I'm supposed to be shocked and horrified at his violence, and I probably would be if I bought this storyline and felt anything about it other than annoyed. "I'm not
lyin' to you!" she twangs back up at him from the floor, insisting that she only got out of prison first because she was a minor. Kevin, suddenly friendly again, says he doesn't care, now that he knows what her job is. Counting the cash she brought, he says she has access to some good shit through her CTU connections. "Bank codes, Port Authority Manifests, Stock Exchange." She says her access isn't unrestricted, but he says she'll figure it out. "Whatever it is, payout's gotta be at least six figures, okay?" She gets up and goes to him, begging, "Please, Kevin?" I hate this so much. I hate seeing Katee Sackhoff having to do this. But then I guess if you have a dark, formerly groundbreaking, critically acclaimed one-hour drama series and it's got a really stupid subplot, who else are you going to call to carry that subplot than Katee Sackhoff? Kevin seems to take pity on her, promising to never bother her again if she does this one thing. She sobs that she can't. He takes her face in his hands. Say it with him, everybody: "You can, and you will."
Outside Vladimir's hideout, in their respective vehicles, Kiefer is telling Walker that they've been living in a hotel called Bella Noche in Avenida Juarez, which apparently doesn't keep records for the sole purpose of harboring criminal activity. Fits with their cover story and it's impossible to check. He says he'll keep filling her in when she goes inside. And here comes Ziya, telling her, "Come on, let's go." The two of them head toward the entrance as Kiefer watches.
This is when Chloe calls Kiefer to say, "It's not pretty, Jack. She had a real problem on her hands." She tells Kiefer that Vladimir was "completely obsessed with her. It turned violent." And they cast Callum Keith Rennie? What a stretch for him. "Did he rape her?" Kiefer demands, displaying a curiosity about Walker's lady bits that doesn't seem strictly professional. Chloe says it looks like there were a couple of attempts. She admits that Walker never mentioned this to her or Hastings. Chloe asks Kiefer what's up, and Kiefer says what he's thinking: he knows that she tried to kill herself at least once. Chloe wonders if he's speculating that Walker's trying to get herself killed tonight. "I don't think she cares what happens to her either way," Kiefer says. As though we couldn't tell that about her the minute we saw her hair.
The goons let Walker and Ziya back into the warehouse at 8:43:22. Walker is thoroughly patted down, and then sent to walk across the room to where Vladimir is leaning against a toolbox with his back to her. So I think we know who the real toolbox is. She says hi and he turns around, fidgeting like a nervous suitor. She notices that his face looks different, although it looks the same to me as it did in the surveillance photos. "I had it done in Caracas. What do you think?" he asks. She says it makes him look younger, and asks for the name of the doctor. "He's not practicing any more. A sad story." Oddly, Vladimir does not look all that sad. Vladimir asks what she was doing in Mexico City. She says she had business there, and he wants specifics. Names, in fact. While waiting for Kiefer to supply her some through her earpiece, she gives Vladimir an "oh, really, Vlad? Really?" look, and then rattles off the names Kiefer relays her. He suddenly seems to notice that she looks different too. "Your eyes. Your skin. You look like hell." Look at that boy flirt! "It's hard to look your best with a gun in your face," Walker points out smoothly. With a nod to the henchman who's been pointing a weapon at her head this whole time, Vladimir gets to see that she looks the same even without one. "Have you been sick?" he asks. "Maybe you picked up a little hepatitis C on your travels?" Dude's got game! He asks where she stayed, and she tells him the Bella Noche. He says she must know the politician who gives it cover, then. Kiefer asks Chloe for that information, because it's not in the cover profile, and she quickly starts digging. Walker tries to fill the time by acting all annoyed with Vladimir. You know what? I bet if Dana had finished this herself instead of having to dump it in Arlo's lap, this information would have been in it. I'm still not invested in the Kevin Wade storyline, but if he gets Walker killed I'm going to have a major bone to pick with him. Luckily for everyone, Chloe comes up with the name Raul Castillo. Walker says it to Vladimir through her teeth and asks, "Are we done playing twenty questions now?" He says they are, and that he'd forgotten how much fun she is. "You're not like other women. You have balls." Clearly Vladimir is unaware of certain varieties of prostitutes. "You always did say the nicest things," she says, and asks if they can talk business. Vladimir's answer: "Tie her up!" As she and Ziya wonder what's going on, he says, "You gave me all the right answers, Renee, but you're not telling the truth." He can't think she's working undercover, can he, having just cut off Ziya's thumb? Does he think that's in the CTU Field Manual? The real one, I mean, not the old one with all the Post-Its® sticking out of the pages covered in blood and Kiefer's handwriting? Whatever the case, he orders them both stuffed in the trunk of a car, while Ziya loudly babbles about how he knows nothing about this. When the trunk lid closes, Kiefer gets an earful of feedback. Back at CTU, Chloe figures the car must be armored. From where he's sitting, Kiefer sees a car pull out into the alley, and follows with his headlights off while Chloe monitors via satellite. "I think this operation just blew up," Kiefer says. Chloe asks if he wants to intercept. "Not if the car is armored," Kiefer says. "I'm gonna need tactical support." Chloe says she'll tell Hastings. Kiefer adds that there are four men in the car, and they have to assume Walker is being taken somewhere to be killed. And because it's Kiefer, he can't end the scene without a loud, frustrated, "Dammit!" It's 8:48:24.
8:52:43. Some dude in a shirt and tie, presumably the doctor Josef was mentioning earlier, finishes up a phone call with his wife just before the Bazhaev brothers come stumbling in. Josef plops Oleg on a couch and says, "I need your help." The doctor picks up the phone to call an ambulance, and finds himself looking down the barrel of Josef's automatic. Josef says nobody else can know about this, and to make sure, he has people outside the doctor's house right now. "The light in your little daughter's room just went out about ten minutes ago." The doctor gets it, and Josef lowers the gun. He says Oleg has radiation poisoning. "His symptoms seem quite advanced," the doc says, and says he might not be able to do anything. Josef threatens him some more, and the doctor asks what he came into contact with. "Uranium," Josef says. "Weapons-grade, 235." He's certainly free with that information. Papa's going to be pissed. Too bad they couldn't go see House, to whom he could lie and House would still figure it out.
Kiefer's following that black car down the freeway while on the phone to Hastings back at CTU. He says the TAC teams are three minutes away, and they have orders to engage only on Hastings' say-so. This does not make Kiefer nearly as nervous as you might think. "Any percentage in letting this play out?" Hastings wonders. Kiefer thinks not: "This operation is over. Vladimir didn't take the bait." Chloe reports that the car looks like it's heading to the BQE, and Kiefer warns that they need to do this soon. After a moment, Hastings gives his teams the green light.
"This is good. Pull over," Vladimir says. The car does, to the river, at 8:55:03. Which is kind of confusing, because even though Kiefer can hear Ziya recommencing his panic-babble when the trunk lid is opened, he's still following a moving vehicle. Kiefer realizes they're tracking a decoy, and orders Chloe to find the car Walker really left in. Chloe pulls up the satellite footage while Hastings tells the TAC teams to hold off. Chloe says a second car left five minutes after the
first. "Are you kidding me?" Kiefer rages at her. That's right, Kiefer. You've just been Punk'd! Chloe apologizes that they were focusing on Kiefer's follow. "Just tell me where they are!" Kiefer yells. Meanwhile, Vladimir has his men lead his captives down to the water's edge.
In other splitscreen windows, Hassan gets up from his desk, Farhad looks way too pensive for a guy who's got two free hookers to play with (dude still has his tie on, as a matter of fact), Dana returns to CTU, and the doctor examines Oleg while Josef watches.
Chloe has now located Walker by the GPS on her earpiece, I guess. Maybe that should have been their plan A, no? Anyway, she's near Newton Creek. Kiefer asks about the TAC teams, which are at least ten minutes away from Walker. Whipping his car around in traffic like Undercover Brother, Kiefer yells, "Tell them to move it! Put me back on Renee's comm! Dammit!" Does he want Chloe to do those three things in that order? Because she still might not be totally up to speed on all of CTU's new damning software. At least she patches him back into Walker's earpiece, because she hears Kiefer explaining that they were following a decoy and TAC teams are ten minutes out. "Do whatever you have to to buy time," he tells her.
Vladimir orders both Ziya and Walker to their knees. Ziya's still pleading for his life, and Vladimir tells them to shut up and gives them one last chance to tell the truth. Ziya begins his story, and gets shot dead at the beginning of it. Looks like he got a thumbs-down. "No!" Kiefer says upon hearing the silenced shots, because he was so attached to Ziya. Oh, I guess he's worried it was Walker, because he starts calling her name, like she's going to answer him. But after a moment, he can hear Vladimir saying to her, "Amazing. You didn't even blink." She doesn't blink when Vladimir puts his gun to her face, either. She just whispers, "Do it. Just get it over with." Kiefer asks her what she's doing. He really needs to shut up before Vladimir hears him. Vladimir refuses to pull the trigger until Walker tells him who she really is. "Fine, you want the truth? I'll tell you the truth," she says. "You were right." Is she about to blow her own cover? "I am sick," she says. "I'm so sick of living like this. Truth is, even if you let me walk right now, I have nowhere to go and no one to go to." A tear leaks down her face as she says, "You don't want to do this deal? Fine. Then you might as well kill me because this deal is the only thing that I have." Kiefer begs her to stop, but she goes on, telling Vladimir, "Besides, you wouldn't be doing anything that I haven't already tried myself." After a long moment, she tells him again to do it. He presses the barrel against her forehead, then uncocks the gun. So they're cool now? "I had to be sure," he says. "You understand, right?" She says she does, as Kiefer nearly pees himself in relief. Vladimir smiles and orders Ziya dumped in the river. Walker? Still not smiling. She's probably wishing she'd thought to hold onto Ziya's thumb. She could toss it in the river right now and nobody in charge would ever know.
Kiefer, meanwhile, has forgotten to tell anyone back at CTU what's going on. When Hastings asks him for an update, Kiefer says the TAC teams need to stand down. "She's in. They bought her cover." It's 9:00:00, and fortunately he got the word out before Vladimir and Walker were surrounded by CTUmobiles. Even Walker would have had a hard time explaining that one.
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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