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With Farhad ready to turn himself in, everyone's in quite a tizzy. Hastings sacks up and tells Rob Weiss that the plan to pin the blame on Walker is off the table. President Taylor demands that President Hassan turn over files on any of his spies working in the U.S. so Farhad can identify the men who turned on him and now have the rods. Hassan is resistant to the idea, and even when he tries to comply, he gets tripped up by the successful escape of his ex-security chief, Tarin. And when Kiefer and CTU finally catch up to Farhad, they find him freshly shot and unable to tell them anything. Kiefer's solution is to pretend Farhad is still alive, in a bid to lure the terrorists into coming after him so they can catch them that way. The bad guys are ready to take the bait, but before they do, one of them calls his American mother to send her out of the city. And then he wears an explosive vest over to the hospital. CTU rookie Owen is the one unlucky enough to find himself in the bomber's path, and has to lead him to Farhad while Chloe tries to disarm the detonator remotely. Owen and Chloe and Arlo come through, and everybody lives, but the bomber escapes and locks himself into a hyperbaric chamber to await instructions to set off the bomb manually. He really doesn't want to be taken alive.
With a potential dirty bomb in play, Taylor agrees to an evacuation of the U.N., but Hassan won't until his daughter is found. He even calls his wife to enlist her aid in finding Kayla, and she seems ready to help.
And through all this, nobody at CTU even seems to miss Cole or Dana. But since they're stupid enough to be hiding bodies right now, one wonders how useful they'd be anyway.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!The previouslies freeze-frames feature Cole Ortiz, Kayla Hassan, Farhad Hassan, Brian Hastings, and Jack Bauer, who wraps up the segment with a dramatic, "Deal."
At the U.N., Hassan's daughter Kayla walks with Nabeel, the shady guy Hassan put in charge of security when his original security chief, Tarin, proved to have an inconvenient conscience when it came to torturing innocent people's families for no reason. They're going to the room where Tarin is being held. Nabeel tells her she's got two minutes, and then Tarin will be transported to their embassy. Because in a universe where it takes but minutes to reconfigure servers and invent entirely new technologies, arranging for one dude to be driven across town apparently eats up more than an hour. Nabeel lets Kayla in, tells the guard in the room, Bashir, to clear out so they can have some privacy, and leaves the two of them alone in there. Idiot. Kayla tells Tarin that her father still thinks he's in on the conspiracy, even after learning about their relationship. Now on top of everything else, Tarin has to worry about his boss having learned that he's been shtupping his daughter. Tarin wants to tell her a secret of his own. Bashir, the guard who just left the room, is giving Tarin a handcuff key and has stashed a gun in the transport car. So that's what's taking so long. He asks Kayla to meet him at the Teodore Hotel after he escapes. Before she can answer, Nabeel comes back in, but as they get ready to move him, Kayla manages to sneak Tarin a nod. Hard to imagine what could go wrong.
Wherever Kevin and Nick died at the end of the last hour -- and I really hope it's not the Reservoir in Central Park now, given what's going to happen -- Cole is futilely doing CPR on Kevin. Dana, her once-perfect hair looking like she was dragged through a hedge backwards, tells him to take off. "It's my fault. I lied about everything. Who I am, what I've done." She plans to take the blame. Well, whoop-de-fuck, look who just figured out what the situation is. But now Cole picks up her torch of stupid from where it was just lying guttering on the ground and declares, "What's done is done. We're gonna clean this up and no one's ever gonna know what happened." Because that worked out so well for FPJ in I Know What You Did Last Summer. He says they need to strip down the van, and "dump the bodies in the swamp." Isn't there, like, a job they should be doing right now or something? Dana has a problem with Cole's plan, but Cole reminds her, "They're scum, Dana, and no one's gonna miss 'em." He asks if she wants to go to prison for the rest of her life for these two. Because if she does, she should by all means participate in covering up their deaths. Oh, wait, that's not what he means.
Meanwhile, back at the place where they used to work, Hastings is on the phone to President Taylor and Rob Weiss at the U.N. He explains how he's heard from Farhad Hassan, warning him that the terrorists want to use the rods to construct a dirty bomb. Taylor asks why they'd want to do that. "Between Hassan's crackdowns and CTU, we've backed them into a corner," Hastings analyzes. "This is their response." That'll learn them to try to stop terrorists. He explains where Farhad is, and that he's sent Kiefer to pick him up. He does not mention that he did so because his head of field ops has gone off the grid. He adds that the men after Farhad are "covert assets for the IRK," as Farhad mentioned in his original call. Hastings thinks that if CTU can get a hold of IRK intelligence files, Farhad will be able to help with identifying the bad guys. Rob doesn't think President Hassan will go for that, "especially in his current frame of mind. Hell, the man's gone off the deep end." True that, but Taylor hopes this will pull him out of it. She tells Rob to notify Hassan of the Farhad situation and tell him she needs to talk to him right away. And also to call Tim Woods at Homeland Security to prep for a potential attack. "Thank you, Mr. Hastings," she yells at the speakerphone on her way back to the Council Chamber. Rob is just about to end the call when Hastings pipes up again to ask if they're alone. Learning that they are, he declares he won't be charging Walker with anything. "We have a lot more to worry about than blaming Renee Walker," Hastings says, reasonably enough. In fact he just gets calmer the angrier Rob gets, as he explains that they're following a new lead now. But he may be overplaying it a little when he adds, "You want to replace me as head of CTU, be my guest. But until you do, stay the hell out of my way." Could Rob's enraged reaction when Hastings hangs up be driven by more than insubordination? Fortunately, there's enough other stuff going on this hour that we won't have much time to worry about that.
At 1:07:07, a convoy of CTUmobiles is en route. In the back of one of the SWAT vans, Kiefer sits to the young, nervous-looking agent we've seen glimpses of over the past couple of hours, Agent Owen. Kiefer briefs the men, and tells the agent with the laptop that they'll need to be ready with the files CTU is going to be sending them ASAP. Just then Farhad himself calls, having been patched through by CTU. Kiefer has Owen put him on speaker, as Farhad asks how close they are. Kiefer says it'll be ten minutes, and asks if he's okay. Farhad says they're close, and begs him to hurry. Chill out, Farhad -- they aren't any closer than they were at the end of the last hour.
Taylor waits alone in the U.N. council chamber. Hassan enters, wanting to know what's going on with his brother. Taylor gestures him to a seat and explains the situation. We've already heard it, of course, but the part that's of interest to Hassan is that the people planning to build a dirty bomb out of the rods are his own spies. Suddenly Hassan, who for the past several hours has been convinced that the very dust bunnies are against him, is skeptical that the people he pays to live a lie might have questionable loyalties. Taylor tells him that Farhad had no reason to lie, and asks him for intelligence files "for every asset you have in this country so Farhad can identify these terrorists." Hassan all but sneers scornfully and suggests she just give him Farhad and let his people work on him, which Taylor obviously doesn't go for. Farhad wont be able to help her if he's in tiny little pieces, after all. She gets that she's requesting a breach of security. "But you need to understand that if this radiological attack takes place, I will be forced to retaliate." Hassan looks stunned. But after she repeats her request, he agrees to call his acting head of security. "You'll get the files in a few minutes." Let's just hope that threatening to bomb his country doesn't do any damage to their work on the peace treaty that they're hours away from signing.
Hassan's acting head of security, Nabeel, is currently riding in the shotgun seat of an embassy Escalade, with Tarin riding alone in the back seat. That way he's able to sneakily unlock his handcuffs without anyone being able to notice. While he's doing that, Nabeel turns to say he doesn't believe that Tarin is guilty, but is only following orders. Tarin lies that he'd do the same (even though he's in this situation because he wouldn't). "Whatever happens to me, you mustn't blame yourself. Never forget that." Which is normally the kind of thing people say when they're about to make a big move, but Nabeel just takes it at face value and smiles complacently. And a moment later, Tarin has pulled out the hidden gun and is holding it to Nabeel's head, demanding his weapon from him. He then tells the driver to pull over, and he complies at 1:10:57. Tarin gets them out of the car while Nabeel tells Tarin he's only making things worse for himself. Kind of have to go with Nabeel on this one. Tarin says it can't get worse than what's waiting for him at the embassy. Okay, that's probably a good point too. Nabeel's cell phone rings; that would be Hassan. Tarin takes the phone and the attached earpiece, and lets it keep ringing while he makes both men handcuff themselves into the back of the vehicle.
Hassan, unable to raise Nabeel, asks the convenient underling in his office where he is now. "Transporting Tarin to the embassy," the underling says. Hassan tells him to keep trying to reach Nabeel, and to send a security team to track him if he doesn't answer. Also, he gives the order for CTU to get access to the intelligence files, so maybe Tarin's ill-timed escape won't screw things up as much as we might have feared.
Back out in the streets, Tarin pulls the cargo cover down over his former colleagues and closes the tailgate without seeming to attract any attention at all from passersby. While still standing right to the car, he dials his cell phone. He reaches Kayla, who is on her way out of the U.N. building, and confirms that she's going to meet him at the hotel. "I love you, Kayla. See you soon," Tarin says before hanging up. And again, before walking away. He tosses Nabeel's phone into a handy trash can before running around the corner, which will at least make Nabeel easy to find. It's 1:12:52.
1:17:02. Hastings is on the phone with Farhad, whom he's now calling by his first name. He says CTU is at the south entrance, and Farhad needs to stay put until CTU secures the site. But Farhad is beginning to panic at how close the searcher is. Hastings tells him not to move. "Farhad, talk to me!" Hastings says. This is excellent advice: first, remain where you are until the person wanting to kill you is able to locate you. Second, speak out loud in order to accelerate that process. Understandably, Farhad is like, fuck this moron in the ear. But instead of staying low, he struggles to his feet and attempts a limping run. Unfortunately, Ali sees him and fires three times, hitting him at least twice in the torso. Farhad goes down just as the sirens approach and the CTUmobiles come into view. Maybe they should have gone through one of those orange lights on the way. Ali runs off. Soon the place is swarming with CTU agents, and surprisingly it's one of them and not Kiefer who finds Farhad facedown on the ground and rolls him over, calling for a medic. Kiefer sends Owen and his team on a search, and calls Chloe to tell her he needs those intelligence files now.
While walking away through one of the warehouses, Ali dials his cell phone. He reaches his boss Samir, who is waiting with the rest of the terror team at an all-night coffee shop. "I shot him twice, but the police arrived and I had to get out of there," Ali tells Samir. "You know where to find us," Samir says. Now if only Kiefer did.
Somewhere behind him, a CTU medic tells Kiefer that Farhad is bleeding out from the two large-caliber slugs in his abdomen. Wait, they're still in there? Then what about the blood from the exit wounds we saw on his shirtfront after Ali shot him in the back? Did the bullets just bounce back inside? If so, that is one tough shirt Farhad's wearing. Barely looking up from the laptop, Kiefer orders the medic to stabilize Farhad right there. Other CTU teams find the abandoned van with no rods in it, and go through the building where we just saw Ali at 1:19:05. The site is secure, but empty. Meanwhile, Kiefer is still waiting for the files on his laptop. He goes over to Farhad to ask him to identify the men who stole the rods from him as soon as they have the files. Farhad manages to agree. And then Kiefer starts yelling at everyone, as the files are taking too long to download and Farhad is fading fast. This could all be transplanted into the most suspenseful commercial for high-speed internet ever broadcast.
Oh, but now we're going to have another commercial, this one for Cisco Telepresence. The show has been doing this every season since the sixth one, I think, and it's just not all that exciting any more. It's a video conference with giant screens, okay? Anyway, this commercial is in the form of Taylor and Rob at the U.N. meeting with Tiny Tim from Homeland, a doctor whom I assume is the Surgeon General, and Admiral Smith from the Joint Chiefs in D.C. so they can talk about the threat posed by the potential dirty bomb attack. Tim explains that the rods have enough explosive capacity to contaminate one square mile of Manhattan, which could result in casualties in the tens of thousands. Actually, given some of the apartments I've seen in Manhattan, that number seems pretty low. I've been in individual buildings that have that many people living in them. The Surgeon General says most of them would die of radiation poisoning, with the rest succumbing to leukemia and cancer in the longer term. He doesn't have any number on how many of the victims would simply be shot dead by their own fathers. Admiral Smith adds that the area would be uninhabitable for about forty years. And anyone who moved here from Valencia a couple of years ago is going to be pissed. "Obviously a citywide evacuation is out of the question," Rob says. Tim agrees, "There are millions of people on this island, with few points of egress. It would take days to get them out." Plus there's the whole panic thing. Or, if you'll permit me to restate the problem in movie shorthand, "Cloverfield, I Am Legend." Taylor agrees that they need to focus on preventing the attack from happening at all. Tim adds that CTU is wisely beefing up radiation detectors at the bridges and tunnels, and increasing security at "high-value" targets, which are pretty thick on the ground in Manhattan. Indeed, where in Manhattan i
sn't within a mile of something high-value? Rob points out that the U.N. might be a target, which of course is relevant to the discussion because that's where he and the President of the United States are sitting right now. At least the Secretary of State appears to be safe; he's probably halfway to Iowa by now. Rob advises a full evacuation of the building. Taylor agrees, and that's the end of the meeting. Because once you've brought up immediate evacuation, nobody wants to linger for chitchat and minor housekeeping items.
Hassan is looking tired up in his office, and his underling informs him that Farhad is in custody, wounded but being attended to. Then his phone rings; Nabeel has been found. News is just pouring into this room right now. The field agent who found Nabeel informs Hassan that Tarin has escaped, and Hassan is shocked to hear it. The field agent gives Nabeel the phone so Nabeel can apologize. He isn't more specific than that, so there's no way of knowing if he's apologizing for not resisting Tarin, or for not paying attention while Tarin undid his handcuffs and produced a gun, or for leaving Tarin alone in a room with Hassan's daughter, or for leaving him alone in a room to plot with Bashir, or what. Instead, he moves on to something that might actually be helpful, which is Tarin's cell phone conversation that Nabeel overheard. Because stupid Tarin was practically leaning against the back of the truck while he was talking. "I believe he was speaking to your daughter," Nabeel says. Hassan looks at the underling in the room and snatches up the handset to continue the conversation with a little more privacy. A bit late for that, Chief. Nabeel says it sounded like Tarin was going to meet her somewhere. Hassan hangs up, then dials his cell phone.
Kayla is walking down a long hotel hallway at 1:23:03, ignoring her own cell phone. Hassan, who is just having a bitch of a time getting anyone to take his calls this hour, leaves a message for her to call back. She knocks on the door of a suite, and Tarin hurries her inside. Dude, how is he paying for these digs? I'm going to feel pretty foolish if it's financed by the IRK opposition. They hug happily, and he tells her he's contacted an American lawyer specializing in international law who'll meet them in two hours. That is one accommodating lawyer, willing to take a meeting at 3:30 AM. But I guess just because an hour is ungodly it doesn't mean it can't also be billable. "This is such a terrible situation," Kayla says, "yet I've never felt so happy." Tarin agrees, and actually smiles. And then they make out. Big time.
Back at the warehouse, the medic tells Kiefer, "We did our best. [Farhad] didn't make it." A much calmer Kiefer thanks him for trying. Another agent reports that the site is clear of both bad guys and nuclear rods. So that's another failure. Kiefer calls in to CTU and tells Hastings, "We lost them. Farhad's dead." Hastings isn't pleased, probably not least of all because he just flipped off the White House Chief of Staff on the assumption that this was going to pan out. Kiefer tells Hastings he has one more idea: "Whoever shot Farhad couldn't confirm that he was killed." His suggestion is to make Farhad "dead bait." They'll tell the media they have him in custody and he's being taken to a hospital to be questioned. "They'll have to make a move on him. He knows too much." Nice use of present tense. Hastings is doubtful about this, but Kiefer argues, "Mr. Hastings, you said you wanted me in 'til this was resolved. This is it." Chloe chimes in to add that with the intelligence files they got from Hassan's people, they can run facial recognition to spot the terrorists before they attack. Hey, while they're at it, why not enlist some magical uranium fairies to track down the rods? That sounds like it has as much chance of success as Chloe's plan. But Hastings goes along, because he's finally figuring out that no CTU boss ever got fired for listening to Kiefer. Kiefer thanks Hastings and barks out, "Owen, assemble your men. Briefing in less than five." Kiefer does a hero-walk into a pair of CTU headlights at 1:25:22.
At 1:29:34, Arlo is telling Hastings that preparations are in place for the operation before the act-in splitscreens are even over. Once they are, Cole and Dana are seen busying themselves stuffing rocks into a large duffel bag that also contains Kevin's body, although they left the face exposed so as to make for the most dramatic reveal when his discovery "interrupts" the opening scene of an episode of Law & Order in a few months. They drag him out into the water, all of about waist-deep, and sink him. This right here is why I hope it's not the Central Park Reservoir, because even a CTU agent covering up a double homicide wouldn't be reckless enough to poison the city's water supply this way. Dana actually sheds a tear as she watches Kevin sink like Leo in Titanic. Cole doesn't fail to notice, but all he can think to say to her is, "Let's get the other body and get cleaned up before we go back to CTU." Sure, why not take time for a shower and a change of clothes? They're bordering on desertion anyway, so it wouldn't do to show up back at work leaving muddy footprints. Following him squishily back up into the bank for Nick, she asks Cole, "What about us?" He doesn't know yet. But he does drag Nick into the drink by himself, which in this context is probably equivalent to a dozen roses.
A local news anchor is on the TV, smirking incongruously as he reports that "Farhad Hassan [sic]" has been found alive. They have the whole story about Farhad calling CTU and CTU showing up to find him shot but expected to live. How fortunate that the local Fox affiliate is breaking into its late-night infomercials to share this news with CTU. Samir and his men are watching this highly convenient broadcast in the diner when Ali shows up, stunned at what he believes is his own failure. The news even gives the name of the hospital where Farhad is supposedly being sent. And because these terrorists are luckily as stupid as CTU would have had to be to actually publicize that information were this story true, they know they have to go after him. I hate to say it, but this is the weakest part of what's otherwise a very strong episode. In fact I'd be more likely to buy this if CTU decided to publicize the story on Twitter. Ali wants to go after Farhad himself, but Samir informs him, "We're sending Marcos. They won't suspect him. His mother's American. He's in the truck with the rods." The truck that's parked by the curb out front. Is this what Samir meant by "a secure location" last hour?
Outside, at 1:32:25, the bug-eyed little runt playing Marcos paces around the case in the back of the truck. He pulls out his cell phone and dials. "Mom, it's me," he says, as in an apartment somewhere on the other end of the line, Mare Winningham turns on her bedside light. In a weirdly flat voice, he tells her to get out of the city and go to Aunt Shelly's. He can't explain why, or tell her where he is, but she needs to go now. He promises to meet her at Aunt Shelly's to explain everything, and she finally agrees to go. He quickly gets off the phone just as Samir enters, unsuspecting. "Are you ready, my friend?" Samir asks. Marcos is. His mom probably isn't, though.
At 1:34:02, Kiefer leads paramedics over to the ambulance to load up Farhad's dead body, which has an oxygen mask on it and everything. Hastings calls Kiefer to report that "the hook has been baited." Assuming the bad guys saw the news report, which I guess Hastings is. And correctly, which is worse. Kiefer says they're most likely to attack while they're en route, when they'll be most vulnerable. Drive slow, then! In fact, try hitting every hospital in the city, leaving a trail like Billy from Family Circus. Hastings says they'll have NYPD and SWAT units all along the way, as well as at the hospital. Kiefer reminds Hastings that they need to take the bad guys alive, and Hastings says that's covered. Kiefer leads Owen over to the ambulance to ride with him, and pauses to ask if he's okay. Owen says he is, but I suspect Cole Ortiz isn't the only CTU agent with wet pants right now. Kiefer assures him they're covered. Owen bravely says, "Fine, Mr. Bauer. Let's do this," and climbs into the ambulance. Looking guilty, Kiefer mutters, "Yeah," and climbs in the ambulance to him. The convoy heads out, sirens blaring. It's 1:35:16, and Owen can at least take comfort in the fact that the terrorists are highly unlikely to attack during the commercials. Which are apparently six minutes apart now.
At 1:39:34, Tarin and Kayla are totally making out on the bed in one of the splitscreen windows. Not that he has her suit off yet. At the U.N., Rob tells Taylor that the evacuation is ready to start -- the second one tonight, I remind you, so they must be getting good at them -- and asks if he can get her anything. She thanks him, and apologizes for how challenging his first few months have been. Because normally a White House Chief of Staff sits around playing solitaire. Rob leaves as Hassan enters. Hassan has already heard his brother is dead, and asks Taylor to arrange transport back to Kamistan. "Personally, I don't care where his body rots, but my mother will want a proper burial." And while Mrs. Hassan is at it, she can probably arrange for Farhad to finally get that haircut she's been bugging him about. Taylor agrees to Hassan's request, and says it's time to evacuate. Hassan says he's sticking around, since Kayla is missing, having "run off with" his former head of security. Taylor offers her help, but Hassan says his people are on it. Taylor asks him to come with them anyway, for his own safety, but he refuses. "She's somewhere in the city with no idea that a nuclear threat exists. I won't go anywhere until she's been found." That's heroic of him, especially from the point of view of the people who are going to also have to hang around here until he decides to bail. Taylor gives in, and they shake hands before parting company. Neither of them mentions that the last time they evacuated this building, Hassan almost got blown up and came out of the experience with his brain in sideways.
As CTU monitors their progress on the big screen, the CTU convoy pulls into the hospital entrance. So much for an attack en route. The ambulance slowly backs into place at 1:42:04 while other CTU agents take up position. Meanwhile, back at base, Hastings tells Chloe to pull up the hospital's surveillance system and start running the facial recognition. Apparently the hospital has no objection to being used as a giant mousetrap for terrorists, or to armed CTU agents swarming through its hallways. Health care reform is even more urgent than I thought. While Chloe gets busy violating any number of HIPAA regulations, Kiefer calls in to report, "Farhad's body's being taken to his room." Farhad's body? Better hope no one's listening, blabbermouth. The facial recognition process seems to involve Chloe focusing on individual faces of people walking through the crowded halls, and then waiting several seconds while the software looks for a match from the intelligence files Hassan had sent over. For each person Chloe checks. Yikes, this could take a while. CTU should probably have someone on duty who knows some tricks for speeding up facial recognition, don't you think? Hastings tells Chloe to check the exterior cameras.
Lucky thing, too, because right now Marcos is pulling in and parking. Before getting out of his car, he gets a little black box with a big red button out of his pocket and lights it up. Then he unzips the jacket he's wearing over a set of medical scrubs, just to make sure the explosive vest he's wearing under it is still in place, I guess. And then he zips up again and gets out of the car. I'm beginning to suspect that he's not actually planning to meet his mom at Aunt Shelly's place.
Inside one of the hospital corridors, Kiefer gets a call from Walker. She's been sprung but is still at CTU, and somehow Chloe found the time to tell her about the deal Kiefer made to get her off the hook. "I didn't ask you to do that, Jack," she says. Kiefer says he couldn't let the White House set her up. "You did nothing wrong." He insists she let it go, and she's not responsible. On a more personal note, he adds, "I meant what I said earlier. When this is over I want to be there for you. With you." "I'd like that," Walker says. Oh, swoon. I wish we could see them in their happily-ever-after period, listening to them talk about their relationship in grim, hourly five-second increments. It would be like Twilight via Facebook. He tells her he'll have someone take her to his apartment (the one he was going to move out of that very afternoon) and he'll meet her there when they're done. She agrees, and he lets her go because he's hearing talk in the comm channel. And because he's going to have to figure out how to explain to Spawn how that FBI agent who called her out of the blue last season is going to be her new stepmom.
At 1:44:57, Kiefer switches channels and hears Hastings telling him the facial recognition came back with a hit on Marcos Al-Zacar -- the same Marcos who's about to enter the building with a bomb strapped to him. Hastings gives Kiefer a description, and Kiefer's on his way until Chloe zooms in on the surveillance frame to say it looks like Marcos is carrying a detonator, which probably means an explosive vest. Kiefer asks if she can disarm it from there. Well, sure, why not? That would be the safest place to do it from, after all. Chloe says she might be able to, if she can figure out the model of detonator from the surveillance frames. Kiefer tells her to go ahead, and then switches comm channels to inform Agent Owen -- posted outside a side door -- that Marcos is on his way to him. Poor kid probably thought the danger was over when they got to the hospital. "What should I do?" Owen wonders. "Stay calm and do whatever he asks," Kiefer instructs. "CTU techs are gonna try and disarm the vest from off-site." Owen says okay, which means he'd believe anything, and Kiefer tells him, "You can do this. Just try and slow him down as much as possible." When Marcos comes around the corner, Owen challenges him, asking for ID like he would anyone. Marcos comes right out and says he has a bomb. "Give me your weapon right now or I'll kill us both." After a pause, Owen complies, doing a very convincing imitation of a nervous hostage. Marcos asks where Farhad Hassan is, and Owen tells him the third floor. Marcos tells Owen to take him there. "Anyone asks who I
am, you say I'm a doctor and I'm cleared." He makes Owen precede him into the building at 10:47:02. You know, I thought those intelligence files were a bit of overkill at the beginning of this episode, but now it looks like they might just save the hour. Good thing Hassan didn't ask for them back the minute his brother died.
There's a private jet idling on a runway at 1:51:22, and Hassan's soon-to-be-ex-wife Dalia is on it. She answers her cell phone, even though she tells Hassan not to try to change her mind about leaving. Or, as she pronounces it, "leavink." He says he's not calling about that, but about Kayla, and the possible danger she's in. "She's run away. With Tarin. They've been seeing each other." Dalia already knew that. Hassan asks her how long she's known, but she correctly says that's a little beside the point right now. Hassan tells her that Farhad is dead, the terrorists have the rods, and they're planning to use them in Manhattan. He doesn't have time to tell her the whole story; he just wants her to call Kayla, because he figures she's more likely to answer a call from her mom than from him. "She's angry at me," Hassan explains. "I had Tarin arrested. I thought he was part of the conspiracy." Wait, "thought"? What changed his mind? Tarin's escape? Which he clearly had inside help with? Maybe just the fact that he didn't kill Nabeel is enough for Hassan to snap out of his five-hour fit of paranoia. Dalia agrees to help, but wonders about Hassan. "Don't worry about me. Just help me find our daughter," he says. Dalia agrees. Aw, you think they'll get back together?
Owen is still leading Marcos through what must be a very big hospital. Either that, or he's pulling a Janis and pretending not to know where Farhad's room is. They get on an elevator while Marcos stares creepily at the side of Owen's head. Meanwhile, Kiefer is leading a small army of CTU agents up the stairwell while Chloe tells him she's identified the detonator, but she'll need to see the vest before she can figure out how to jam its signal. "Copy that," Kiefer says, and switches channels so Owen can hear him in his ear. Kiefer instructs Owen to get Marcos in front of a surveillance camera and make him show off his vest. Not asking much of this kid, is he? While Kiefer and his men take position out of sight in a side hallway -- and hope some geezer doesn't come wandering out with his IV stand squeaking away -- Marcos and Owen come through a third-floor door at 1:54:12. Owen spots a camera overhead, and stops where he is. He tells Marcos he wants to see proof that he has a bomb, pretending not to believe him. Marcos threatens to hit the detonator, but Owen's got his feet planted. "You want Farhad, you show me." There's a long moment while I try to identify the emotion I'm experiencing while watching this. I think it's actually suspense!
Finally, Marcos unzips his jacket and shows off the ordinance underneath. Chloe tells Kiefer, "Owen did it, Jack." Yay, Owen! Marcos gets Owen moving again. Kiefer is waiting near Farhad's room, and asks Chloe what's . She just needs the receiver's frequency now, which apparently the computer finds by rapidly cycling through images of bombs. Most of us would get in trouble for doing that at work. Hastings gives her thirty seconds before Owen and Marcos get to Farhad's room. "Three-point-one-five gigahertz, standard GSM!" she finally auctioneers over to Arlo. Arlo punches it in through CTU's mobile comm systems, but it's going to take a few seconds to transmit the jamming signal. Kiefer tells his men to stand by. By now, Owen and Marcos are in Farhad's room, where Farhad is hooked up to all manner of machines, including a beeping EKG. Marcos yells at Owen to get on the floor face-down, which Owen does. Hastings rushes Arlo to finish up already while Marcos barricades the door. He takes a moment to look from Owen on the floor to Farhad in the bed, which gives Arlo just enough time to get done. "Jack, the vest is disarmed. Move in!" Hastings orders over a comm system that can apparently transmit voice communications as well as jamming signals simultaneously. Better hope it worked. Kiefer leads his men down the hall toward Farhad's room. Before they get there, Marcos hits the button. Nothing happens. Owen starts to get up, but is too slow to do anything more before Marcos pistol-whips him with his own gun. Nice try, though. Marcos then turns Owen's gun on Farhad, plugging the corpse six times. Yes, that should do it. But then Marcos sees that the EKG is still reading a steady 60 BPM. I wonder if the person in the adjoining room that it's plugged into misses it and wants it back.
Marcos seems to just be figuring out what happened when Kiefer bursts into the room at the head of his CTU column, coming in low so that when Marcos turns and shoots at him the bullet goes over his head. And that was his last round. CTU agents only get seven shots per clip in their sidearms? Maybe CTU should spend a little less on cutting-edge office design and more on ten-round magazines. Marcos drops Owen's empty gun and spreads his arms to face Kiefer and the other agents. Kiefer has his men lower their weapons, and does the same, saying they just want to talk. I don't know why he's approaching Marcos so gingerly, until I see the giant third floor window taking up an entire wall. What idiot's idea was it to put Farhad's body in this room? I only ask because Rob Weiss is going to want to know who to blame hour while other people are dealing with the actual crisis. Marcos smiles at Kiefer and dives through the closed vertical blinds and the glass, landing hard on the pavement below. He's hurt but not dead, and Kiefer watches out the window as he gets up and runs off. "He's still moving, notify the perimeter," Kiefer says before following him out the window. Unlike Marcos, Kiefer has the benefit of being able to see the SUV parked not far from the window, and leaps down to the ground from there to pursue Marcos on foot. Kiefer has the further advantage of not being as injured as Marcos, with only his fresh knife wound in the gut and bullets in the shoulder to contend with. Kiefer bellows orders not to fire at the unarmed man. Marcos runs down some steps and across a courtyard before reentering the hospital through an unlocked entrance door that doesn't have a single CTU agent posted at it. Nice job "securing" the place. Kiefer follows, just in time to see a light go on in a room he's passing. Marcos just locked himself into a walk-in hyperbaric chamber. Which is also unsecured, apparently, in case someone walks in off the street in the middle of the night with the bends. Marcos spins the airlock wheel from inside and jams it by wedging in a metal leg from the cot in there, which he just snapped off like it was a Lego. Kiefer tries to get in, but of course can't. Oh, man, It's Joseph Wald all over again.
In other splitscreen windows, Hassan looks tired in his office and Taylor enters the UN parking ramp with her still Ethan-free entourage while Kiefer reports, "Suspect has barricade himself in some kind of pressure chamber. I need a team down here to help me open the door. Kayla and Tarin are naked in bed by now; Kamistanis do it with the sound off. And Dana and Cole seem to be en route back from their crime scene, sitting in sullen silence instead of figuring out some story to keep them out of trouble for the hour or two.
At the Terror Diner, Samir's phone rings. It's Marcos, still able to get a cell phone signal even inside a room with solid metal walls a foot thick. "It was a trap," he reports. "Farhad was already dead." He says he's locked in someplace where they can't get at him yet. "You know what you must do," Samir says. Marcos says the detonator's scrambled, and Samir tells him to set it off manually. "I don't know how to do that," Marcos says, so Samir offers to talk him through it. "Work quickly. You can not let them take you alive." But doesn't that chamber have external controls? Kiefer could be
exploring whole new frontiers in torture right now. He could turn the pressure up until Marcos's eardrums rupture, and then turn it back down until his eyes bug out even further than they already do. I don't know why he's not rubbing his hands together in sadistic glee.
Instead, Kiefer is just now noticing the external video screen showing what's going on inside the chamber. There's a matching one inside, so Marcos can see Kiefer's face. "Can you hear me?" Kiefer asks. Marcos can, over an intercom speaker, and he puts down his cell phone. He tries to turn off the video feed, but none of the buttons on the panel seems to do anything. "I just want to talk," Kiefer lies. Marcos just gives the camera his creepiest stare yet, which is saying something, then winds up and knocks it out, with yet another cot leg. It's 2:00:00, and unless Kiefer gets Marcos out of there soon, it's only a matter of time before either Manhattan or that cot is in ruins.
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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.