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Dana's life continues to fall apart, with her colleagues increasingly suspicious of her activities, and Kevin and Nick having no intention of letting her off the hook. Dana nearly sacks up to confess the truth to Cole, but is prevented from doing so by bad timing and her own apparent decision to take Kevin out instead. So Arlo shows Cole surveillance frames of Kevin getting in her face, which they think means Dana's cheating on Cole. Which means even more of CTU's staff is getting distracted by her nonsense.
Hassan's daughter Kayla tries to talk sense into her father, but that only drives him further down his rabbit-hole of paranoia. Hassan's shady security guy secretly agrees to let her see Tarin soon, but I think we all know how that's actually going to turn out.
Kiefer's hour starts out pretty rough, what with having been captured and tortured by Sergei Bazhaev's men. A situation for which Walker blames herself, and Hastings is right there with her. Farhad isn't happy to hear that the delivery of his fuel rods has been delayed, but there's not much he can do about it, and in fact Bazhaev kicks him out, dispatching Josef to return him to his people. Which is probably just as well for Farhad, after Kiefer frees himself to call CTU and run amok in Bazhaev's restaurant. Once in custody, Bazhaev offers to give up the rods in exchange for full immunity for himself and Josef, and President Taylor agrees to the deal. But when Cole and his team show up to capture the rods, they only find the transporters dead and the rods gone. And it looks like Bazhaev's surviving son Josef was behind it, because he's decided to double-cross his dad and sell the rods to Farhad himself. Clearly, he is not aware of the new situation back at HQ.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!In tonight's previouslies freeze-frames: President Omar Hassan, Kayla Hassan, President Allison Taylor, Dana Walsh, Sergei Bazhaev, Renee Walker, and Jack Bauer. Looks like Hassan's daughter is about to find herself with a lot more to do.
Dana finds a quiet hallway to call Kevin and ask where the hell he is. She reaches him at a strip club, and he apologizes for not calling as soon as they were clear, like he said. She should get used to him not keeping his promises anyway. "We got caught up celebrating our score," he says, clearly over the part where Nick assaulted a police officer. He steps away to the bar to continue the conversation as Dana brings up that little factor. "Why you gotta focus on the negative?" Kevin asks, and invites her to join them at Starlight in Jersey City so she can get her cut. Dana of course wants no part of that; she just wants her apartment key back in her mailbox and him out of her life. "Yeah, that's not gonna happen," Kevin says. Dana reminds him they had a deal, and he actually seems to feel kind of guilty as he says they can get rich doing this. Then Nick comes over, grabs the phone and explains the new dynamic for their little partnership. In fact, the first words he has ever said to her are, "Look, bitch!" He takes over from Kevin on the blackmailing tip, and yells, "You're going to be our golden goose, okay?" And then he hangs up. Charming. But at least he asked if it was okay.
As the call ends, Arlo finds Dana in the hallway, and wants to know what's going on with her already. "Who was that?" he demands. "Kevin?" Dana is stunned, and asks if he's spying on her. At least Arlo only thinks Dana is cheating on Cole, but he threatens to tell him if she won't. That out of the way, he leads her back to the floor, updating her on how Kiefer got himself nabbed by Russians whom they now can't track.
We catch up with Cole, still at Vladimir's garage and explaining over the phone to Hastings why that is: they found the underground exit the Russians took, but the trail goes cold at a drainage junction. Hastings asks him if Walker saw anything, and as Cole looks over to where she and her jimmy-leg are getting attended to by a paramedic, he says she's "pretty messed-up," blaming herself for what happened. Hastings completely agrees with that last part. "Without Vladimir Laitanan, we have no lead to finding Bauer or the nuclear materials." He wants Cole to bring her back to CTU for debriefing, and Cole suggests a psych evaluation as well. A few hours too late for that, I'd say.
Hastings sees that Dana's back on the floor, and asks what was keeping her from monitoring chatter with the NSA like she was supposed to be doing. Chloe steps in and takes the blame, saying Dana had to fix one of Chloe's technobabble-related screw-ups. Hastings is satisfied with that story, probably because it includes Chloe screwing up, and slouches off to update President Taylor. As soon as he's gone, Dana thanks Chloe for covering. "You can thank me by putting aside whatever it is that's bothering you and helping me find Jack," Chloe says. "He's my friend and he's in trouble." Dana settles down to work, while Arlo looks disappointed that he didn't just get to watch a big blow-out. Dick.
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What kind of restaurant is Bazhaev running, anyway? Not only has the place now been closed for the entire dinner rush, the owner is doing his own prep work at 11:06:42 at night. He's wearing an apron and everything. Into this confusing scene comes the away team who nabbed Kiefer from Vladimir's garage last hour, and Kiefer himself, still sporting his fashionable black head-bag. The leader, who we'll learn is named Dmitri, sends the rest of them on down the hall while he tells Bazhaev that Vladimir and his men are dead. Bazhaev wants to know how Kiefer knew about the fuel rods, so he swaps the apron for his suit jacket and walks with Dmitri on to the impromptu interrogation chamber down the hall, buttoning up like he's walking into a job interview. Kiefer has already been plunked down in a chair, and when a goon removes his head-bag, he blinks around in confusion, playing the part of the frightened nerd even with his Harry Potter glasses long gone. Bazhaev asks who he is, and he answers, "Ernst Meier," still sticking to his cover. "I've been looking for you to make you an offer." Bazhaev is surprised Kiefer even knows who he is, but Kiefer says he was only following the fuel rods. "After that nasty business with Laitanan [a phrase which is non-specific to the point of being redundant], these men brought me here. So I'm just assuming you're that man." Bazhaev asks how Kiefer knows this, and Kiefer claims that people he works for intercepted communications from Farhad Hassan. This of course raises the question of whom Kiefer's working for, and that's when Kiefer stops answering questions. Although he is quite polite about it. Unfortunately, even his politeness doesn't prevent a stiff clout from Dmitri. Kiefer says his buyers are ready to offer $250 million, half up front, right now. Bazhaev's eyes widen, but then he walks up to Kiefer and grabs him by the hair, airing his suspicion that Kiefer is a cop. Kiefer reminds him that he killed three people back at Vladimir's place, including stabbing Vladimir himself in the eye, which isn't exactly SOP. Unimpressed, Bazhaev talks about once seeing the KGB throw a family off a roof. "I know what cops are capable of." I'm sure the NYPD would be flattered. After asking one more time, Bazhaev leaves him to Dmitri. Kiefer is hauled out of the chair, yelling that they can still make a deal. Funny how earlier today he was trying to convince someone about to torture him that he wasn't one of the bad guys, and now he's trying to convince someone about to torture him that he is.
Back out in the main kitchen, Bazhaev meets up with Josef, who has finished burying Oleg and yet isn't even dirty. Must have buried him in a Dumpster. He offers his father the golden cross necklace Oleg was wearing, a Confirmation gift from his father, which I thought Bazhaev wanted buried with him. More disobedience? Bazhaev simply tells Josef to keep it as a reminder. Getting back to his cooking, Bazhaev tells Josef about their new captive who knows about the uranium, and how for that reason, he's pulled the rods off the road. "I'm sure Farhad can't be happy about that," Josef says. Bazhaev says Farhad doesn't know yet, and asks Josef to help him break the news. That should make Josef feel better about having just buried the brother he watched his father shoot.
By now, Dmitri and his goons have Kiefer's wrists tied together, with the short rope draped over an exposed water pipe so his feet are dangling a yard off the floor. Which they could have used a regular closet for, but whatever. They rip open his bloody shirt, and Dmitri dismisses the other two thugs for obvious plot reasons. He rolls out a big old car-battery charger and starts attaching one of the jumper cables to Kiefer's ankle, calling him "Mr. Policeman" and anticipating the smell of frying bacon. Kiefer begs him to stop, but Dmitri only jabs the other end of the live cable up against Kiefer's fresh bandage, where Walker stuck him with the bread knife less than an hour ago. Owie! But then maybe this will cauterize the wound. It's 11:11:42.
At 11:15:52, Hastings is on the phone with Taylor and Rob Weiss, saying they're basically screwed and their only hope is for Kiefer to figure out some way to salvage things from his end. In other words, situation nominal. Rob asks why Hastings thinks Kiefer's even alive. "Only the fact that he wasn't killed at the point of abduction," Hastings admits. Taylor asks for the odds of getting the rods in the few hours, and all Hastings can say is that the longer they're out of contact with Kiefer, the lower their chances of success. Taylor lets him off the hook with a request for updates every half hour. Because with Hassan bailing on the talks and Ethan still AWOL, it's not like she has anything else going on.
Another uncomfortable phone conversation is going on elsewhere in the city, between Farhad in the back room of Bazhaev's restaurant, and his man at the docks waiting to receive the rods. At least Farhad has apparently dismissed the two Russian hookers, so he isn't being distracted by their blintzes or whatnot. The guy at the docks says their general back home is getting worried, what with all the arrests going on. It's going to be tough to take over and restart the country's nuclear program if Hassan continues squashing the opposition. So Hassan's new measures, as draconian as they are, are actually working? I guess they're only good or bad depending on which storyline we're following at any given moment. They're running out of time, but Farhad assures his man that the uranium should be delivered within the hour. Then he abruptly ends the call as Bazhaev raps on the door and walks in with Josef. It took them that long to get here? How big is this restaurant?
"There is a man downstairs who has shown up to outbid you for the fuel rods," Bazhaev informs Farhad. Farhad denies the possibility that anyone on his side tipped anyone off, but Bazhaev is still holding back delivery. Farhad protests that they're up against the clock with Hassan: "If he manages to purge everyone in the military who opposes him, the uranium is worthless to me." Now, Farhad, don't be such a Gloomy Gus. Come up with a plan B, like starting your own microwave oven or glow-in-the-dark watch company and see if your attitude doesn't improve. Bazhaev doesn't care about Farhad's problems, because of course he's already got his money. Farhad isn't prepared to wait for however long it's going to take to find out the truth from "Meier," because after tonight the season will already be one-third over. Bazhaev promises it won't be long, and turns to go. This is too much for Farhad, who reminds Bazhaev of some other promises he's made, like the assassination of his brother. Farhad is just getting wound up on a real tirade when suddenly he feels the muzzle of Josef's gun at his temple. "Don't speak to my father that way," Josef says coldly. He claims they've honored every agreement (not true) and shed a lot of (radioactive) blood in the process, not to mention keeping Farhad under their roof at their own risk. "Tell him to put the gun down," Farhad tells Bazhaev. Josef refuses, and advises Bazhaev to kick him out. "Let his own people shelter him if he thinks we're such fools. I'll drive him there myself if that's what it takes." Bazhaev tells Farhad that sounds like a good idea, so he'll have to leave, and wait until Bazhaev thinks it's safe. Farhad walks out of the room without even picking up his jacket and tie. "Make sure he gets where he's going," Bazhaev orders his son. Alas, Josef will end up interpreting that command in far too broad a sense.
At 11:19:27, Cole and his away team return to CTU with Walker. He hands her over to Hastings, who favors Walker with a heavy-lidded glare before leading her away. Unaware of the present dynamic, she asks about all the stuff they're doing to try to track Kiefer, and Hastings assures her they're doing everything possible. "Why don't you have any leads?" Walker presses, stupidly. Well, because you killed him, Renee. Hastings rounds on her and says as much, and adds, "I know about your suicide attempt. You should have been honest with me." He parks her into a meeting room with Chloe to take her statement, and instructs the latter to take Walker to Medical for her psych eval when they're done. For once Chloe doesn't argue. She joins Walker and gives her an electronic pad and stylus to write her statement on, because CTU is so goddamn high-tech they don't even allow spiral notebooks in here. Walker sits down and says that Hastings is right to blame her for what happened to Kiefer. Chloe disagrees, but Walker's in a guilt spiral and it's going to take more than what Chloe can offer to pull her out of it. "What they're doing to him right now, it's because of me," Walker says. Chloe tells her to focus on the task at hand: write her statement and she'll check back later. Hopefully before Walker fills up more than one page with longhand, because it's not at all clear what you're supposed to do after that.
Down on the floor, Dana approaches Cole and asks if he can talk. Cole tries to put her off because he's working on something with Arlo, but of course Arlo's all, "No, we're good." He smirks after them as they go off to a semi-private part of the floor, Dana fiddling with her engagement ring the whole way. Cole asks if she's okay, and she says she isn't. She says she has a big problem, which is why she's been acting weird lately. Cole starts to tell her this is the worst possible day to call off their engagement, but Dana is shocked at the very idea that he would think that. Indeed, if he knew her at all, he'd have guessed by now that she's living under an assumed name after having fled a criminal past that has now caught up with her and is blackmailing her into coordinating inside jobs with her CTU security access. I mean, Occam's Razor, you know? She begins, "There are things about my past that I haven't told you." She's got his attention, but is having trouble going on until he encourages her to continue. "I don't want to lose you," she says. He assures her he isn't going anywhere. Well, except he is, because just as Dana's about to start talking, another field agent interrupts to say Hastings wants to see Cole in his office. Cole tries to put it off, but Dana lets him go. "Talking to you has helped," she says. "I think I know what I need to do now." Well, that can't be good. Cole asks if she's sure, and says she can tell him what this is all about later. "Hmm, mm-hmm," she smiles fakely, But as soon as he goes to see Hastings, her eyes go full Starbuck.
Dmitri rips off the bandage covering Kiefer's knife wound and jams his thumb into it. "Who do you work for?" he asks. "Who else knows about the fuel rods?" Kiefer still won't talk. Dmitri vows to find Kiefer's limit, and when he does, he should tell the Chinese secret police. They spent twenty months looking for it. Is it in his armpit? Must not be, because it doesn't jump out when Dmitri sticks the live jumper cable in there. Kiefer maintains that he isn't a cop, but an independent contractor. I couldn't even tell you if I wanted." "We'll see," Dmitri says, and jolts him again. This one leaves Kiefer limp and unresponsive. Which is what I always figured the problem was with Kate from the second season. Dmitri slaps his face to wake him up, with no success. When he turns away to get some smelling salts, Kiefer sneaks a very mean-looking peek at him to let us know he's faking. And when Dmitri returns, Kiefer suddenly grabs the hand holding the jumper cable between his feet and jams it against Dmitri's chest. I don't know how that works without Kiefer getting more of a charge than Dmitri does, but Dmitri's soon flat on his back, unconscious. Now Kiefer's only problem is that he's helplessly hanging by his bound wrists from an exposed water pipe in the basement of a restaurant filled with Russian mobsters. Kiefer looks down the length of the pipe he's suspended from and sees a water leak at the elbow joint, possibly a sign of weakness. So he awkwardly swings his feet up and monkeys over in that direction, trying to kick the pipe loose. So if he can'
t foil the terrorists, maybe he can at least flood their basement. It's 11:25:56.
At 11:30:13, Kayla Hassan is insisting on seeing her father. She seemed like such a simpering dishrag at first, but now that chick looks like she's got some steel in her. When she's allowed in, she says they need to talk about Tarin's arrest. Hassan weasels that Tarin is going to their embassy to "help clarify a few questions. Strictly routine." Kayla's not fooled, and reminds Hassan that Tarin would have died in a successful assassination attempt, being in the targeted car and all. But even that doesn't convince Hassan of Tarin's innocence. He says there are plenty of people willing to die for a cause. Including Hassan, a few hours ago, before all this went down and his elevator quit going to the top floor. He commends Kayla on her loyalty to her friend, and Kayla breaks the news that they're "in love, and have been for almost a year." Hassan is stunned: "You've been carrying on with this man behind my back?" he demands, as though he himself hadn't trusted his life to "this man." Kayla calls him on his bullshit, which she should given the whole Meredith Reed fiasco, and begs him not to let Farhad's betrayal turn him against everyone. With tears in his eyes, Hassan says, "I can't think of a better way to completely infiltrate my life and influence my judgment than getting close to my daughter." How flattering for her, really. Hassan forbids her to see him again, and says he needs to get back to work. "What's happening to you?" she asks, and leaves without an answer. But I think we can guess. hour, I assume we'll see Hassan discovering some suspicious calls on his own phone, whereupon he will order his own arrest and interrogation, which will continue until he either dies or confesses to himself.
Kiefer hasn't succeeded in getting that pipe loose yet, and Dmitri's about to wake up. Finally it breaks loose, and all the water in it must have already dripped out, because it comes down bone-dry. The racket rouses Dmitri fully, and Kiefer barely gets his hands unhooked from the pipe in time to deflect Dmitri's onrushing knife. Even with his hands and feet still tied, Kiefer is able to break Dmitri's arm, then wrap his legs around his neck and snap it. Then, with Dmitri's own knife, he cuts his bonds and relieves Dmitri's corpse of the gun Dmitri should have used in the first place. Seriously, why get in close with a guy who already subdued you while hanging from the ceiling? Kiefer also finds Dmitri's cell phone in a shirt pocket, but the battery is dead, so no joy. Kiefer realizes he's going to have to leave this room, so he sneaks out, Dmitri's gun leveled. People are talking out in the kitchen, but he stays out of sight, just able to overhear Bazhaev's informing his men that he plans to unload the rods to Farhad as soon as possible. Kiefer glances over, and spots the building's circuit box, which is in a highly convenient spot. Bazhaev is still barking orders as he and his men emerge into the dining room -- and find themselves plunged into total darkness. Well, that should slash the cost of filming the rest of this scene. But then the emergency lights come on a moment later, and a quick look outside (excuse me, through a crack in a heavy velvet curtain that I'm certain actually conceals a solid soundstage wall) verifies that they're the only building on the street without power. "It's Meier. Cover the exits," Bazhaev orders. He sends one of his men to check the fuse box. That's an enviable gig. The hapless goon assigned to this project takes a flashlight and checks all around. The coast appears clear, but as soon as he reaches for the main switch to turn it on again, Kiefer jumps down on him from somewhere, quietly kills him with Dmitri's knife, finds his cell phone, and dials. I hope he's calling the health board, because there's some nasty shit going on in this restaurant tonight.
Actually, the call goes straight to Chloe, who's pretty excited to hear from him. "Everyone's been looking for you," she says. "Where are you?" Kiefer just tells her to trace the call and send a TAC team, then puts the phone down. He's got some people to kill and he wants to get right to it. He sneaks through the kitchen, all but repelled by the exit sign that offers an escape to the street. Instead, he makes his way upstairs. From the kitchen's upper level, he can see the heads of two of Bazhaev's goons framed in the round windows of the waitstaff doors, and quickly shoots them. They go down fast enough, but Bazhaev himself suddenly has a shotgun, and he opens up with it. Kiefer almost finds cover in time to avoid stopping some buckshot with his shoulder, but not quite. He comes out another exit, snatches up one of the dead henchmen's Uzis, and engages Bazhaev in a brief gunfight before rolling and diving under a table. Bazhaev approaches slowly, firing shell after shell through his own tables, linens, and place settings. Except he's shooting at such a shallow angle, I can't see how anything could be going through. But it sure is quiet in there now. He bends down to check under one of the tables, and it attacks him. That'll learn him to shoot at his furniture! Oh, it's just Kiefer, rising up from beneath it and hurling it onto Bazhaev. The Uzi at the ready, Kiefer uncovers Bazhaev from the wreckage and finds him bloody, unconscious, but alive. It's 11:37:37. Now he can relax. Assuming there aren't any more goons in there, of course, which apparently he is.
11:41:54: Cole and Hastings come down from CTU's upper level, talking over the situation at the restaurant. Apparently it's been all secured during the commercials. Hastings suddenly wonders where Dana is, and Arlo says she left about fifteen minutes ago. "Something about fixing a faulty relay at our 17th Street station." Cole asks why she didn't send maintenance. "Good question," Arlo says pointedly, before relaying Dana's story that she had to manually reboot the firmware. "That's what she said, anyway." This doesn't escape Cole, but Hastings is more interested in what they have on Bazhaev. Chloe's already got a whole dossier coming together, and she starts putting photos of Bazhaev up on the screen. Hastings announces to his people that they have an ID. "His name is Sergei Petrovich Bazhaev. Ukrainian national, 61 years of age." They think, correctly, that he knows where the rods are, and they'll be bringing him back to CTU for interrogation. Cole heads off to coordinate that, sharing a long glance with Arlo. A long, long, glance. Wait, are we sure it's Dana that Arlo's really after?
Walker comes downstairs to ask Chloe if what she heard about Kiefer is true, and Chloe confirms it. She says Walker needs to go to Medical, and promises to tell Kiefer where she is when he gets back. As if that wouldn't be the first place he looked, after the armory.
Over at the restaurant, an EMT is patching up Kiefer's shoulder, saying he'll need to get to the hospital later. Sure he will. What about the knife wound? An NYPD cop hands Kiefer a PDA with Bazhaev's file already uploaded onto it, and says CTU's people are five minutes away. Pulling his shirt back on, but still not buttoning it, Kiefer pages through the file before walking over to where Bazhaev is being attended to by an EMT of his own. Kiefer asks for a moment alone with him, and it's granted. Kiefer assumes casual interrogation pose #13B, sitting on a chair backwards, facing the subject. Without looking at Kiefer, Bazhaev says he knew it. "I should have trusted my instincts and killed you on the spot." Instead of telling Bazhaev that he's hardly the first to make that mistake, Kiefer says, "You can add it to your list of regrets." He adds that CTU has the goods on him. "It's over, you know that right? You're finished. At the very least, we've got you on kidnapping and murder, and that's before CTU rips this place apart and uncovers the rest of your criminal activity." Wait, what murders does Kiefer know about? Does he plan on pinning the deaths he just caused on Bazhaev? That hardly seems sporting. Kiefer says Bazhaev's luck
y he's only interested in the fuel rods, and entices Bazhaev with a briefer sentence in exchange for his cooperation in that score. "That offer extends to both of your sons, too," Kiefer says, gratuitously showing off his familiarity with Bazhaev's file. "Josef and Oleg." "Oleg is dead," Bazhaev says flatly, and Kiefer's eyes go strangely human. Bazhaev tells him the whole story, except for the part with Josef's detour to the doctor. "I shot him as if he was just a sick dog. I murdered my own son...for nothing." He actually sobs for a moment while Kiefer looks on with, if not compassion, at least curiosity. Then, with no transition whatsoever, Bazhaev looks up and offers to tell Kiefer where the rods are, in exchange for full immunity for himself and Josef. Kiefer's doubtful, but when Bazhaev shuts down, he offers to see what he can do.
Kiefer steps away to dial his phone, and again gets Chloe at 11:46:22. He tells her he needs to talk to Hastings, but Chloe says he's talking to Taylor. "Even better, see if you can patch me in," Kiefer says. Pretty presumptuous for a guy who's walking around with his shirt open.
We join that call already in progress. Hastings is just telling Taylor that there's no indication that Farhad has the rods yet when an operator cuts in with news that Kiefer wants in on the call. "Put him through," Taylor says, and tells Kiefer he's on with Hastings and her Chief of Staff. Ethan would be on the call too, but apparently the U.N. is fresh out of Ouija boards. "I'm sorry that it's taken this long for us to speak," Taylor says. Kiefer gets it, and says, "Please forgive me for getting straight to the point." He tells her about Bazhaev's offer of info in exchange for immunity. Is that all?" Rob snarks. "Why don't we give him a parade down Broadway too?" Taylor asks if there's another way. Kiefer says that given Bazhaev's twelve years in a Russian labor camp, they probably don't have time to break him. Even with that battery charger in the back? It's all charged up and everything. Taylor asks what Hastings thinks, and Hastings says, "under the circumstances I'll defer to Jack's judgment on this." Kiefer rolls his eyes. He's never happy, is he? Taylor adds that she needs something to bring to Hassan before her peace agreement falls apart. "Make the deal, Jack." Kiefer says Bazhaev wants it in writing, and Taylor says he'll get it. "But in the interest of expediency, put him on the phone with me." Kiefer carries the phone over to Bazhaev and tells him, "The President of the United States wants to talk to you." Bazhaev gives Kiefer a surprised look for the second time this hour.
On the CTU floor, Cole purposefully walks up to Arlo's desk and asks what's going on. Arlo plays dumb, unconvincingly, then asks what Dana told Cole earlier, when she took him aside. Cole says she told him nothing, and pushes Arlo to share already. "It's none of my business and I don't want to be the one to tell you this," Arlo lies, "but I think she went to meet some guy." Cole scoffs, so Arlo pulls up a surveillance frame from that afternoon, with Dana and Kevin in the parking lot together. Arlo learned from security that the visitor gave his name as Kevin Wade, a "friend." Cole isn't convinced, so Arlo pulls up another frame, this one with Kevin touching Dana's face. Cole is still absorbing this when Hastings walks up. With uncharacteristic discretion (or simply from long years of practice and habit hiding what he's looking at on computer screens), Arlo quickly clears his monitor as Hastings tells Cole that they've learned where the rods are. "I've already scrambled a NEST team. Meet your tactical unit at the helipad. The coordinates will be relayed to you en route." Cole acknowledges, and once he's gone, asks Arlo if he could find Dana. Arlo says he could if there were any drones to spare "What about a cell trace?" Cole asks. Arlo just nods, and Cole tells him to do it. While walking away, Cole dials his own phone.
Dana's phone rings with his call, but she ignores it and puts her phone back in her purse. With the gun that's already in there. Then she looks across the bar to where Kevin and Nick are having their little party, unaware of her presence, even though she's the only woman in the place with clothes on. From CTU, Cole leaves her a voice mail: "I don't know where you are or what you're doing, Dana, but I need you to call me as soon as you get this. It's important. I love you." He gets onto the elevator, joined by a few of his tactical guys. One of them, the youngest, doesn't have his flak jacket quite buckled, so Cole helps him with the clasp. The rookie thanks him and apologizes. "Don't worry about it," Cole says and hits the up button. The doors close on his distracted face at 11:50:32.
11:54:52. Kayla is loaded for Kamistani bear as she charges into the hallway that adjoins the room where Tarin his being held. Nabeel, the shady dude who arrested Tarin, stops her, but she's not easily deterred. A splitscreen shows that Tarin can hear this through the door. Nabeel says he's just doing his job. "A job that Tarin gave you," Kayla reminds him. She only wants a few minutes with Tarin. Nabeel says he can't let her in now; he'll be leaving for their embassy in an hour, and Nabeel will find time for her to see him before then. Kayla is grateful to him, and he tells her to go before they're both in trouble. And then, the minute she's gone, he calls Hassan to tattle. We don't see it, of course, now or at any time in the rest of the episode, but I think we all know where this is going.
Everyone at CTU is watching the TAC team's approach to the truck stop via a live video link. Hastings is on the phone to Cole, warning him that there are two armed men guarding the truck. Cole asks why they won't surrender, since this is part of a deal and all. Hastings explains that Kiefer thought they couldn't take the risk that the guards will take off with the rods, and for all of Hastings' faults, at least he's learned from his predecessors about the dangers of not listening to Kiefer. Hastings instructs Cole to take the rods to Fort Hamilton once he has them, which is getting a little ahead of himself. The spotlight on the CTU helicopter picks out a white truck, with no one in the cab. The chopper sets down at 11:56:35, right in front of the truck. With flawless timing, a CTUmobile rolls into position as it does so, and the camera focuses in on the face of that CTU rookie in the back of the chopper, which means he's either about to die or turn traitor, or both. They all jump out of their vehicles, weapons drawn, and go around the back as NYPD cars close in to create a tight perimeter. Because God knows CTU sucks at that. An agent reads a Geiger counter at a safe level of 30 millirads, and they open the back of the truck. The first thing they see is Bazhaev's man leaning against the end of that big wooden crate, with a bullet hole in his forehead. The driver's also in the back, equally dead. The agents climb up into the trailer, shining their flashlights around, only to find that giant wooden coffin open and empty. "Where the hell are the rods?" Hastings demands, still watching remotely. Cole says the trace radiation indicates they were here, for all the good that does them. "Right now all we have are two bodies, close shot." That young agent calls out to Cole that he sees something, which is a pretty weak payoff for how much screen time he's already gotten. What he sees, hanging from the inside of the truck door, is a necklace with a gold cross. The same one that Oleg was wearing, the one that Bazhaev insisted Josef keep. Well, it looks like he didn't. Josef disobeys again!
In other splitscreen windows, Bazhaev looks disheveled and defeated, not yet aware that his night is only going to get worse. Tarin sits in handcuffs while his guards mill outside the room, and Rob and Taylor look thoughtful, or perhaps just wonder where Ethan is. And then Nick and Kevin leave the bar with a couple of strippers, while Dana watches from across the street in her parked car, gun in hand. Cole continues contemplating the cross
, getting his fingerprints all over the chain, while Bazhaev continues contemplating his situation, or rather his woefully incomplete understanding of it.
Kiefer returns to the dining room with a fresh shirt as his cell phone rings. Hastings tells him the rods aren't there. "Say that again," Kiefer says, putting his phone on speaker so Bazhaev can hear this time. "That's impossible," Bazhaev says, sincerely confused. "Did your men go to the right pace?" Kiefer blames Bazhaev, who insists he had two of his men guarding them. "We found their bodies, both shot," says Hastings from Kiefer's phone, so at least everyone's on the same page now. Hastings adds the part about the necklace, "Like someone wanted to send a message," he says, using those analytical powers that brought him to the top spot at CTU. Kiefer asks him to be more specific about the necklace. "A gold cross," Hastings says. Bazhaev doesn't bother to hide his reaction, or to lie to Kiefer when he asks what it means. "Josef," he whispers.
And here's Josef, driving a van and calling Farhad to say, I have the fuel rods." Standing out on a sidewalk with some of his guys in front of God and everyone (although at least he's somehow retrieved his suit jacket), Farhad still seems surprised that Josef would betray his father. "It won't take him long to realize what's happened, so let's get this done fast," Josef says. "You're worried he'll discover you've replaced him as our partner?" Farhad asks. Josef says that's exactly what he wants. "In fact, I made sure he will." He says he'll be there in five minutes. "Just have my money ready." Anyone else wondering when he and Farhad arranged this? I can only assume his earlier display of loyalty was a pretext to get Farhad away from his dad and make his offer, which still leaves the question of Farhad's willingness to pay for the rods twice. Speaking of the rods, the camera pans back to the van's cargo area, where a metal crate rests ominously. Did he schlep that in there by himself, lead lining and all? Because if he did, we've got more to worry about than loose uranium; we've got a terrorist with super-strength on our hands. It's 12:00:00.
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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