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Kiefer wants Walker taken off the job, given what he sees as her emotional instability, but Hastings insists on keeping the operation going as is. And Kiefer starts getting a little unstable his own self, listening in on Vladimir being all creepy with Walker -- at least until Walker ditches her earpiece and lets Vladimir sex her, for the sake of the deal. And Kiefer doesn't even know that Vladimir has no plans to even do the deal, instead intending to kill Kiefer as soon as he has the initial deposit. But that doesn't happen, because Kiefer brought Cole along as backup, so it looks like the deal is happening after all. Or at least Vladimir thinks it is.
Dana's already setting up a heist for Kevin and his buddy, going so far as agreeing to provide tactical support from CTU. And how exactly is that going to go wrong? Well, Arlo sees her meeting with Kevin on the CTU security monitors before the job, so that can't be a good sign.
As countries start dropping out of the peace agreement, Hassan continues his crackdown, not only back home but in the very halls of the U.N., ordering the arrest of a member of his own delegation. Even his security chief thinks dude is losing it, so he calls Hassan's daughter for help.
And in other bad-father news, the doctor that Josef has taken hostage to treat his brother is in an awkward position: Oleg needs a bone marrow transplant if he's to have any chance of survival, but Josef insists the doc handle it himself. Which is bad enough, but then the doctor ends up getting killed by the thugs Bazhaev sent to retrieve his sons. So that's his evening ruined. And Bazhaev is so enraged by Josef's disobedience he shoots Oleg dead. Think Josef learned his lesson?
Want more? The full recap starts right below!In the previouslies freeze-frames this week: President Allison Taylor, Sergei Bazhaev, Dana Walsh (pinned against the wall of her own apartment by Kevin), Renee Walker, and Jack Bauer. Sounds like the worst party ever, doesn't it?
it's a very sweaty Kiefer who pulls his car up near the docks and gets out so he can peer out at the riverbank, where Walker is still on her knees in the mud. And that's not even the worst position she's going to be in this hour. Over her earpiece, she hears Kiefer say he can see her (of course his actual words are, as always, "I've got a visual") and that he's going off comm. Then he switches from his earpiece to his cell phone to call CTU as Vladimir frees Walker's hands. While Chloe covers for Kiefer by listening in to The Renee Show, Kiefer tells Hastings that Walker needs to be pulled out right away. His argument? "She's a danger to herself and this mission." Never stopped Kiefer. He tells Hastings what happened ten minutes ago, and that Walker doesn't care what happens to her. He leaves out the part where if she did, she'd probably already be dead now. Hastings says they can't quit without the uranium, and Kiefer offers to arrest Vladimir and "make him talk." Rather warmly, Hastings tells Kiefer, "We don't do that any more." I'm glad to hear it, if it's true. "Then you people do what you do well," Kiefer spits, suggesting an offer of immunity. Forgetting that they already tried that with Ziya, and if it didn't work with that nine-fingered wuss it's not about to work with Vladimir. Speaking of Ziya, one splitscreen window is showing that his corpse is being ferried out a short distance into the river on a rowboat and rolled off the stern into the water, while Kiefer insists to Hastings that they have to figure something out. "I am not gonna let Renee die because CTU did their job badly." Hastings asks Kiefer for a better idea, and after a moment's thought, Kiefer comes up with the plan of taking Walker's place himself when he goes in as the buyer. I don't think Kiefer would agree to that if he knew what's going to happen later, and I know Vladimir wouldn't. But Hastings does, as long as the mission isn't put at risk, and tells Kiefer to go meet Cole, who has everything he needs for his cover ID. Kiefer hangs up, because Walker and Vladimir have just gotten back in the car and are driving away, and Kiefer needs to follow. This, by the way, is the worst advertisement for cars with daytime running lights that I've ever seen.
Dana is back at work, at least physically. Hastings startles her by giving her instructions to relay to the nuclear emergency team. She says she's on it, but what she's actually on is the CTU web page for "New York Armored Securities." And here, by the way, is a demonstration of the problem with CTU's new workstation setup. Instead of desktop computer screens, everyone has a glass-topped desk with the monitor positioned below it. I'm sure it's quite sleek and shit, as long as you keep the clutter off your desk, but it also reflects glare off the lighting grid, as we're seeing now. It seems to be what she's looking for, so she switches from her headset to her cell phone to call home.
Back at her place, at 9:05:15, Kevin and his non-speaking prison buddy Nick seem to have just finished up a dinner of Chinese takeout when Kevin answers the phone. "Damn, you're fast," Kevin says in mild surprise. Indeed. One might almost think she's in a hurry to get rid of him. Kevin puts her on speaker so Nick can hear her whisper that their target is an evidence lockup, and some confiscated drug money is just sitting there. $120,000, to be exact. Six figures, like Kevin asked, but just barely. Still, he and Nick high-five, and Dana explains the plan: "You go in and take it." Wow, that's a very simple plan. When Kevin voices some doubts, Dana elaborates that it's a warehouse with automated security that she can hack into and manipulate from there. She'll make them a fake key card and everything. "Meet me outside CTU in 30 minutes," she whispers, finishing up just as Arlo comes rolling up to her, nosily blaring, "Did you take care of your situation?" Dana says it's all good and asks what he wants. He complains about a lag in his drone controls, and they technobabble for a while, ending in her agreement to fix it. And since he can't end an interaction with her without being creepy, he offers, "If there's something bothering you, you've always got my shoulder to cry on. Or any other body part." Dana shuts him down, not without Chloe noticing. And just think what kind of day Dana is having in which Arlo isn't even the biggest problem in it.
The Vladimir-mobile returns to his hideout at 9:07:03. Once everyone is inside, Vladimir says he wants to talk to Walker alone. Vladimir's ginger-haired lieutenant, Lugo, watches the two of them walk toward his back office. He seems to be coming over all emo. I know, Lugo, it's hard to not be Vladimir's favorite redhead any more.
In Vladimir's office, he asks Walker for more details on the deal. A splitscreen reminds us that Kiefer is listening in from behind the wheel of his car as Walker tells Vladimir about Ernst Meier, the German arms dealer who's looking to buy weapons-grade uranium. Meier is, as you'll recall, the cover ID for none other than Kiefer himself. Vladimir is all O RLY? and plays dumb when Walker says she heard about a Russian gang having recently smuggled some into the U.S. She thinks he can find out, but he's pretty leery about getting into this. She says the money is worth it, offering him thirty percent of the deal if he can find out more details, and says they're on a time crunch because there's another bidder out there. She is probably not aware that said bidder is currently having an exchange of cultures, not to say bodily fluids, with a couple of Russian prostitutes. Vladimir wonders if Walker trusts her partner. "There's no one I trust more," Walker says, which is probably actually true. The part where she says they've been together for two years is less true, however. "It's professional," she assures Vladimir when his jealous hackles rise. He offers to make some calls, but he wants a meeting with the buyer, and a good-faith payment of five million up front. Walker pretends to balk at the figure, because it's not like she can shrug and say it's a drop in the bucket of the United States Homeland Security budget, but she eventually agrees to pass it on. Vladimir tells her to have "Meier" meet his men on the roof of a parking garage at 12th and Market Street. I know nothing good ever happens in underground parking garages, but who ever heard of anything going bad on the roof of one? Oh, right, Fargo. Never mind. The arrangements thus made, Vladimir suddenly gets all serious and says, "It's good to see you. You're going to make me start losing sleep again." Like he looks so well-rested now. Walker's all business, and Vladimir leaves her alone to make the call. Because he's nothing if not a gentleman.
Walker does a quick check around the room for any listening devices, but her search is too cursory to rule out any that aren't as large as a human being. But she's satisfied enough to ask Kiefer through her earpiece how soon he can be there. "Thirty minutes, tops," he promises. Shouldn't she at least pick up Vladimir's phone to call Kiefer, in case Vladimir's listening on an extension? It's not like she couldn't communicate the arrangements to him without blowing their cover. But then Kiefer asks how she's doing. She nods wearily, and admits, "It's hard to be in the same room with the son of a bitch. But I can handle it." Vladimir probably wouldn't appreciate hearing that. It's 9:11:29.
9:15:45. Remember the hapless Bazhaev brothers? The best thing that's going to happen to them all hour has just occurred, which is to say that Oleg has just received a shot of morphine. The doctor that Josef has taken hostage to treat Oleg tries to ask how this happened, but Josef is done answering questions. "Just make sure he lives," he says. His cell phone rings, and Oleg advises Josef to answer, this being the second time "he" has called. Must be Papa. This is going to be an awkward conversation. Indeed, Bazhaev Sr. doesn't seem happy to be calling again. Josef claims they were in a tunnel and are still stuck in traffic, which is why they're not at the house yet. Bazhaev instructs Josef to let him know when they reach the house, and Josef agrees hangs up. He assures a worried Oleg, "By the time he finds out, you'll have already been treated. It won't matter." Sounds like an airtight plan. He strokes his brother's hair -- somehow not coming away with handfuls of it -- then whips out his gun when there's a knock at the office door. The doctor says it's just the test results. Staying out of sight of the door, Josef keeps pointing his gun as the doctor opens the door a crack to take the results from the helpful nurse who passes them through. He gets rid of her efficiently enough, and Josef is satisfied with his performance. But the bad news, as the test results show, is that Oleg's in very bad shape. "He needs a bone-marrow transplant," the doctor says. "It requires a six-man surgical team and a fully-equipped facility." Not to mention a donor? Since this doesn't exactly sound like something that can be handled at Duane Reade, Josef shuts that down. The only other thing the doctor can offer is some drugs to flush out the radiation. "I can't guarantee he'll recover," he warns. Josef puts his gun back to doctor's head and insists, "My brother is not going to die." Hey, who's the doctor here?
It's 9:18:37 when Cole gets off the phone with CTU at the staging area. Kiefer is already there. Cole wonders why Walker's going to be pulled out. "Hastings said something about her being unstable?" he wonders. Selecting a gun from CTUmobile's armory, Kiefer says he doesn't have time to explain. "How are you going to work this without breaking cover?" Cole wonders. Kiefer doesn't know yet. But that's good enough for Cole. He offers to have his teams do regular drive-bys, so they can extract Walker at the right moment, but Kiefer shuts that down, even when Cole assures him, "I ran an operation just like it in Fallujah." Unimpressed, Kiefer insists, "And I'm in command. You're gonna do exactly what I tell you." He is? And Cole is? I don't recall anyone making that arrangement. Can Kiefer show Cole his official CTU credentials to back up his statement? Or failing that, an org chart? But before Cole can argue, Kiefer hears Walker say into his earpiece that Vladimir is returning. Kiefer politely
excuses himself so he can hear. If Kiefer were really the boss, he wouldn't have to say "excuse me."
Vladimir returns to his office and is satisfied to hear that Walker's partner will be at the rendezvous point in twenty minutes. "We have a little time to catch up," he says, going to the sideboard and filling a glass for himself. She declines a drink, but he pours himself one and asks her what happened to her, to make her say what she said earlier. She doesn't want to talk about it, and he whines, "You're not the only one who's been suffering these past few years...It's hard to admit but I never forgave myself for what I did to you." Aw, poor guy. Over at the staging area, Kiefer looks to be getting pretty pissed off as he listens to Vladimir make excuses for himself. One of those excuses is that he'd had too much to drink, so the drink he's having now might not reassure Walker as much as he might hope. Walker makes a remark about this being the first time she's ever heard him apologize for anything, and he snaps that she doesn't need to be a bitch about it. "Was I being a bitch? Maybe I should apologize?" she snaps back, getting up in his face. He says he missed "our little arguments," and as she sits back down, he starts getting all handsy. Dude, that alcohol works on him fast. "There's more for you here than just money if you want it," he says. She claims this isn't what she came for, but he's not buying it. Which she says, correctly if not wisely, is his problem. "You should watch your tongue. You might lose it one day," he warns. Hard to believe Walker isn't interested in such a sweet-talker. She asks if she can get cleaned up, and he says there's a shower in the bathroom. Just what she needs right now: to be naked in his inner sanctum. She locks herself in as Kiefer stresses at Cole, "We need to move now. Now!" Quick, before Vladimir does something like flush the toilet while she's in the shower!
Meanwhile, at 9:22:27, Vladimir heads back out to the main garage to talk to his men, and specifically his red-haired lieutenant, Lugo. He says the buyer agreed to the five million up front. Lugo warns Vladimir against getting involved in this, but Vladimir says he has no intention of doing so. Instead, he gives Lugo instructions to kill the buyer as soon as they have the money. "What about Renee?" Lugo wonders. "She's not going to be happy about that." But Vladimir thinks he's got it all figured out: "She's got nothing left, nowhere to go. Desperate woman. I give her reason to live." The romantic logic of a lovestruck eighth-grader at work, right there. Lugo and some of Vladimir's guys leave to make it so. It's 9:23:32.
At 9:27:45, President Taylor, Ethan, and Rob Weiss are all gathered around a laptop, watching an internet video of Hassan's security forces administering a crunchy beating to someone back in the IRK. The footage is jumpy, grainy, and considerably less shocking than what you'd see at a bridal gown sale, but the three officials are pretty worried about it. It seems the BBC has the video, so of course there are already rumors that the British are ready to pull out of the peace agreement. Taylor wants to talk to the PM right away (and I'm sure he'd be simply chuffed to hear from her at 2:30 in the morning London time), but Ethan says it isn't just the UK; in fact, enough countries are making noises that the whole deal is at risk. "Maybe if they understood the circumstances," Taylor tries lamely. "That Hassan is trying to prevent his brother from acquiring a nuclear weapon." Yes, that would certainly shed a more forgiving light on street beatings occurring on the other side of the planet. Besides, Rob says they can't exactly tell people that without causing an international panic. Taylor gets the idea of talking to the representatives from the other signatory countries, so she can make a personal appeal. But not Hassan. "I don't want to push him too hard," she says. And I'm sure convening a meeting of world leaders will go over great with him, in his present mood.
And now we get to see what that mood is. Hassan is alone in his residence, standing by the window with his tie loosened (but his hair still a magnificent feat of tonsorial engineering), when his security chief enters at 9:29:06 with a manila folder. "These are backgrounds on all the detainees," he says. Well, the crackdown can't be that bad; that's a pretty thin folder. But apparently 65 members of the opposition have been arrested. Okay, so it must just be really small print. Or, as the security chief says, it's too soon to know anyway whether any of the people on the list was working with Farhad. Paging through the folder, Hassan realizes, "one of the suspects has family connections to a member of my delegation here at the U.N." The security chief doesn't think it means anything, but Hassan insists they make sure. "Arrest him. Take him to our embassy for interrogation." The security guy tries to point out that this is all pretty thin, and Hassan glares at him. "I trusted my brother as well," he says. Once again, the guy tries to talk him out of it, saying it won't go unnoticed. "Don't CARE!" Hassan brats, throwing the folder down. "I was almost killed today." Looks like part of him actually was, that part being the reasonable and peaceful part that anybody would want to sign a treaty with in the first place. "Or have you forgotten?" he asks his employee, who reminds him, "I was in the car with you, sir." "Then you should know what needs to be done," Hassan says. Finally, with a crisp "Yes, sir," the security chief is left to watch his boss storm out of the room. Given Hassan's spooked state of mind, I'm surprised he doesn't bring along the sofa cushions to build himself a fort.
Dana looks busy programming a key card, right there at her desk, probably using her own personal login ID and everything. Which is way better than just admitting she filled out a falsified job application. As I've said before, CTU has overlooked far worse, from Chloe alone. Picking up both the card and a cell phone, she gets up from her desk. And is intercepted, naturally, by Arlo, bitching about the technobabble she was supposed to do for him. She says it's on her list, as soon as she gets back from the bathroom. "Is that okay with you?" she adds. She's lucky he doesn't take that as an invitation to come along and help her wipe. At 9:31:52, Arlo asks Chloe if she's noticed anything about Dana. "Miss Perfect?" Chloe asks. "Maybe she's avoiding you. That's what I would do if someone were drooling over me all day." Arlo makes a lame excuse, accusing Chloe of being jealous, which works about as well as you'd expect it to on Chloe. "Won't you stare at my ass as I walk away?" she says sarcastically. And then she gets up and walks away. And Arlo stares at her ass. He may have a problem.
Dana comes out into the same surface parking lot where she met Kevin earlier, and Kevin gets out of the van so they can step around behind it and whisper with their faces really close. She gives him the phone, which she says has the address and schematic of the evidence lockup. She also gives him the keycard, and tells him to look for evidence bin 4301. She also gives him a comm earpiece so she can give him instructions as they go. And then she gives him a big window cling to stick on the vault's door that reads, "THIS INSIDE JOB WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY Dana Walsh AT CTU." Does she really think none of this is going to be traceable back to her, especially given how quickly she's pulling this together? No way is she spending any time at all covering her tracks. She repeats the deal they have: she helps him with this and he never calls her again. "Sure. Jenny, that's the deal," he says. She seems satisfied with this, even though he's about as convincing as a dentist who says, "This won't hurt." I think Dana's only hope here is that she's secretly sending him into a trap, where live, heavily armed guards will shoot him and Nick in both the face and the phone records. He says he'll call her when they get there. Meanwhile, Nick is watching this in the van's mirror all creepily, but that isn't Dana's biggest problem; someone even creepier is watching even more creepily. That would be Arlo, who is at his desk playing back the security cam footage of what just happened in the parking lot, showing Dana and Kevin behind the van, talking very closely. No way does this look good.
Walker opens the shower curtain, wraps a towel around herself, and steps out. Good thing she did it in that order, because Vladimir is standing there in the open doorway. Didn't she lock that? "Be out in a minute," she mutters, trying to dismiss him. He says he can't wait that long, even for her to get dressed. "Why waste the energy? I'll just have to get you undressed all over again." How many drinks did he have while she was in there, anyway? Walker again repeats that this isn't what she's here for. Kiefer is hearing all this as he drives to the meeting, now with a white dress shirt on under his leather jacket. So Walker showered with her earpiece in? That doesn't seem wise. Of course it wouldn't be good for Vladimir to see it sitting out on the sink, either. Vladimir continues being creepy, ordering her to come to him. When she doesn't, he drains the glass he's holding and then hurls it against the wall. Well now, how is she supposed to come to him, barefoot in a room with broken glass on the floor? She'll be stranded there for the rest of the season, unless Vladimir owns a broom. But he says if she doesn't come to him, the deal's off. Still damp and wearing only the towel, she goes. He gets all in her space, kissing and touching her, while her eyes go even more horrified and haunted than usual. "I'll take that drink now," she finally says. And some ether, if he's got it. Vladimir agrees to wait for her outside, and she again hears Kiefer in her ear, saying, "You don't have to do this. We have a team standing by. We can get you out of there now." Walker says she has to, even as Kiefer begs her not to go through with it. She sheds one tear and then shuts down. "I'm going dark," she says. Which I think actually happened about an hour and a half ago. Then she removes the earpiece from her ear -- with Kiefer still talking helplessly into it -- and washes it down the sink. She leaves the bathroom at 9:37:02.
9:41:22. At the U.N., a British delegate is complaining to the one from Kamistan about what Hassan has been doing. Hassan's delegate is defending his boss, which is why it's kind of ironic when Hassan's security chief walks up and interrupts them so he can talk to the Kamistani delegate. Specifically, to arrest him, although he does it discreetly. The delegate wants to talk to Hassan, but the Security Chief says it's Hassan who gave the order, and repeats his request for the last time. The delegate draws himself up and agrees. The security chief orders the delegate taken to his car at 9:42:52, and says he'll be right there. The British delegate is left wondering what's wrong, and the security chief gives him some lame excuses. And then he goes off to call Hassan's daughter Kayla. He wants to talk to her about her father when he gets back from the embassy. Well, this should be so fascinating we won't even hear any more about it this hour.
At the clinic, the hostage doctor is showing Josef how to administer Oleg's anti-radiation drugs via injections directly into the IV bag. "Radiation poisoning is transferable through bodily fluids," he warns. Yikes, I hope he hasn't been peeing in that restaurant pantry. The Board of Health might have a thing or two to say about that. He's getting three weeks' worth of meds, and if it's working, the symptoms will start getting better in seven to ten days. Which right there tells us that Oleg is doomed. But Josef reassures Oleg that it's all in hand. There's another knock on the door, and Dr. Levine says it's the nurse with the meds. Josef takes up position with his gun and nods for the doc to open. But when the doctor does, it is so not a nurse that he gets shot dead by a guy with a gun. Before Josef can react, another gunman comes in through the room's other door, ordering, "Throw down your weapon, Josef." Josef is flanked, with two guns pointing at him from different directions. All he can do is obey, after a long, tense moment. The gunman asks who else knows. "Just the doctor," Josef says. They start pulling out Oleg's IV, saying, "your father sent us to bring you home." Yeah, Bazhaev must have realized something was wrong the minute Josef pleaded traffic. There's never traffic in the 24-verse. When Josef protests, Oleg says it's okay, and they clear out of there, passing two more corpses in the hallway while the speaking thug calls Bazhaev to say they found them, "At a clinic in Mount Vernon." He doesn't explain how he knew where to find them, so we'll just have to hope that Josef's phone doesn't have a trackable GPS that he was stupid enough to forget about. The gunman tells Bazhaev, "Nobody will know we were here." They'll just assume it was some bizarre murder-suicide pact, but the participants changed their minds at the last second? But Bazhaev is satisfied. "Now bring my sons to me."
Kiefer's costume now also includes a pair of Harry Potter glasses as he arrives at the rendezvous on the roof of the parking garage at 9:46:07, Manhattan beautifully lit up behind them. After showily doing a donut in his German-engineered Volkswagen sedan, he gets out of the car, and Lugo asks, "Meier?" "That's right," Kiefer growls, not even attempting a German accent. "I grew up traveling with my father," he explains, pulling out a cigarette. In subtitled German, Lugo says, "Never been there, but I hear the women are beautiful." "You heard right," Kiefer agrees in the same language. Tricky! "Unfortunately I am too busy working to enjoy them." Still in German, Lugo comments on Kiefer's American accent. Kiefer says he went to university here, and does most of his business with people who speak English. "I guess it rubs off," he says. "Maybe we should speak in English," Lugo suggests. "German is such a...dirty language." Remembering to pretend to take offense, Kiefer shoots back, "And you are a dirty people. But here we are." This working relationship is getting off to a great start. Switching to English, Kiefer asks, "Are we gonna do business or not?" They spar a bit about the five million, and Kiefer's insistence on speaking to Vladimir before making the transfer. I guess he figures if Vladimir's on the phone with him he can't be sexing up Walker.
Unfortunately, Vladimir seems to have already finished up with her. He's up but she's still in his bed, although she isn't exactly carving hearts with "R+V" in them on the wall. Vladimir's phone rings, and he agrees to talk to Kiefer. He promises that it shouldn't be more than an hour before he knows something about the uranium rods, and Kiefer wants to talk to Walker. Vladimir refuses, and Kiefer lets it go for now, handing the phone back to Lugo. Whom Vladimir tells, "Once the money's confirmed into our account, you know what to do." End of call. Meanwhile, Kiefer has a laptop out on the trunk of his car, and asks for the account number. Lugo hands him a card. Kiefer gets busy with the computer as he says, "I'm transferring the money through multiple accounts so it can't be traced." Even through the handy world-map graphic interface that shows the money physically bouncing all over the globe? How secure can that be? "This'll take a moment," Kiefer says. We'll start the moment-clock at 9:48:52, then.
9:53:04. Walker's just about dressed, back in her clothes, and is putting her hair back in a ponytail while fretting at Vladimir that he should be making calls to track down the rods. Vladimir says there will be no calls, because there will be no deal. Thinking he's so clever, he says they won't need the buyer any more once they have the five million. Walker's pretty pissed, obviously, but he says he's no fool. "I'm not about to get involved with the kind of people who traffic in nuclear arms." Much better to kill one. Walker, letting her real distress show, tells Vladimir that this deal has to happen. "I bring you the score of a lifetime and you just piss it away?" When that doesn't work, she tries working on his other head, getting all breathy and in his face. "Once we've made the deal and we have money, we can be together...But I need my buyer alive." Despite having just
gotten some, Vladimir seems like he's tempted, but pulls himself together and says this is how he wants it. Walker starts to dial her cell phone, right in front of him, as though he's going to let her. Which he is most definitely not, and in fact grabs it away from her and clamps his hand around her throat. "Don't ever go against me!" he roars. Then he lets her go, like nothing happened. Walker is left sitting there in helpless horror. So is violence against women the new torture on this show?
It's 9:55:25, and Kiefer is just about done transferring the money. When it happens, there's a confirmation screen on the laptop, and Lugo gets a text message on his phone. On cue, the other three goons draw their weapons behind Kiefer's back. "Thank you, Mr. Meier," Lugo smugs, and three shots ring out. Down go Vladimir's three non-speaking goons. That's the work of Cole, on a nearby rooftop, proving himself to be pretty handy with a sniper rifle. Meanwhile, Kiefer knees Lugo, bounces him against the side of his car, and has him down on the pavement with a gun of his own pointed down at him. He makes Lugo throw his gun away. But has Kiefer blown his cover? Not so much. "Do you really think I'm that stupid? That I'd come here alone?" He orders Lugo to call his boss. Without getting up, Lugo starts dialing, and Kiefer snatches the phone away from him.
Vladimir answers, asking, "Is Meier dead?" Kiefer answers, "Not exactly, but I've just taken out three of your men. And I'm ready to take out the fourth." Vladimir at least has the grace to look embarrassed. Kiefer bitches at him, "You really think you could roll me for five million dollars? Where's Renee?" Abashed, Vladimir lets them talk this time. "Meier, are you okay?" Walker asks. Snatching the phone back, Vladimir says he's ready to reconsider, now that the people he was scared to deal with five minutes ago have proven even more dangerous than he thought. "The only thing you should consider yourself is lucky," Kiefer non sequiturs. "And I still want this deal to happen, otherwise you'd be dead." After Kiefer issues a few threats, Vladimir asks to talk to Lugo, and Kiefer tosses the phone onto Lugo's belly. Good thing it's not a Droid or it'd knock the wind out of him. "Bring him back here," Vladimir orders. Kiefer lets Lugo up and has him get in the driver's seat of the car. As if Lugo hasn't had enough of Germen engineering already.
Meanwhile, in other splitscreen windows, Kevin and Nick are headed to the evidence vault, locked and loaded. Dana is probably wishing she had just let Kevin blow her cover; Arlo glances around creepily; and Josef sits on the edge of Oleg's bed, back in his sickroom in the back of the restaurant.
Bazhaev enters the pantry and dismisses the guard so he's alone with his sons. Josef says he couldn't let his brother die. "And he's my son. Do you think this is any easier for me?" Bazhaev says. Josef insists it would have worked, but Bazhaev cares more about Josef's disobedience. "You put this family at risk." By trying to save a third of it? Josef jumps to his feet and retorts that Bazhaev was the one who put them at risk, sending men into the clinic. "They killed three people! What do you think's going to happen when the police start to investigating?" Except he pronounces the "-ing" as "[gets bitch-slapped by his dad]." Josef presses on, saying the doctor showed him how to treat Oleg. "All we need is the medicine!" This time Bazhaev slaps him right to the floor, and kicks him a few times while he's down, lecturing him about rules, which include, "Never endanger the family, never. And never disobey an order from your father." Bazhaev pulls out his gun and aims it at Josef's face. Hey, isn't that endangering the family? Josef begs him to stop, but then Bazhaev, saying, "You made me do this," turns the gun on Oleg and kills him dead in two shots. So much for the radiation treatment. Then he pulls Josef to his feet and tells him, "Now, call Father Gregor. He'll pray over Oleg. When he's finished, we'll bury your brother." Be sure and get a lead-lined casket. Then he kisses Josef on the cheek and says, Never disobey me again." He leaves Josef there, looking like he's hoping an opportunity will come up soon for him to do just that. It's 10:00:00.
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.