This is the prequel to a new season 6. This season 6 takes place after the season 5 finale and is completely unrelated to my other season 6, which follows “A Life Worth Living” and may or may not be continued. Sorry to confuse everyone, but I had this idea after the season 5 finale and couldn’t resist. Hopefully the first part of the new season 6 will be out soon, but this will give you something to ponder in the meantime. The prequel starts out 12 hours after the end of Day 5. Enjoy and if you get a chance please review.

FADE IN:

INT. HOPE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL - 07:00:00 PM

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE JAMES HELLER is sitting up in his
hospital bed talking to Audrey on the phone.

HELLER

I don’t understand…he just disappeared?

AUDREY (O.S.)

(tearfully)

I don’t know…he got a phone call from his daughter…or at least, that’s what someone told him…a few minutes later I went in to check on him and he was gone.

HELLER

Is it possible he could have escaped? I understand he made a deal with Logan yesterday that he would disappear again when this was all over. Is it possible he may have still felt obligated to honor that deal in spite of everything?

AUDREY (O.S.)

No, that’s not it. He…he promised me he’d be right back. He wouldn’t make a promise he didn’t intend to keep…not to me.

HELLER

Alright, sweetheart, I’ll make some calls and see what I can find out. Are you still at CTU?

AUDREY

Yeah, I’m working with Chloe and Bill to try to find Jack.

HELLER

Alright, they said they needed to run more tests, but I’ll
get over there as soon as I can.

AUDREY

Okay…I’ll see you soon.

HELLER

I love you, sweetheart.

AUDREY

I love you too, Dad.

As he hangs up, his assistant, SCOTT BOREN, enters the room.

SCOTT

Mr. Secretary, I’m sorry to disturb you, but I have Charles Logan on the phone for you.

HELLER

(surprised)

Charles Logan?

SCOTT

I don’t know, sir…he said it’s private.

HELLER

Alright, give me the phone.

Scott hands him the phone and leaves the room.

HELLER

Charles.

LOGAN

You’re probably wondering why I’m calling…

HELLER

No, I have a pretty good idea.

LOGAN

First of all, I wanted to apologize for last night.

HELLER

What, for having your men try to kill me?

LOGAN

I never instructed them to do that…

HELLER

Yeah, yeah…and I’m sure you never told your henchmen to frame my daughter so that CTU would subject her to a medical interrogation either, right? Let’s just cut to the chase…what do you want?

LOGAN

The Attorney General and I agree that it would not be in the best interests of this country for me to go through a lengthy and public trial…

HELLER

What, so you’re going to cut some kind of a deal to get off in exchange for going quietly? And you want to make sure that I’m going to keep quiet about it?

LOGAN

James, I know that you agree it’s in the best interests of
this country. If you didn’t you wouldn’t have come to me last night to try to
resolve this quietly.

HELLER

That was before your henchman practically sliced off my
daughter’s arm! For Christ’s sake, Charles, she nearly bled to death!

LOGAN

James, I understand that you’re angry, and I don’t blame you…

HELLER

Spare me the appeal to patriotism, Charles. You had your
chance to resolve this quietly last night…

LOGAN

Alright, alright. I know you’ve been through a lot, and I
supposed it’s only natural that you can’t get past your anger at the moment in order to see what’s best for this country. But before you schedule a press
conference, I’m sure you’re wondering what’s going on with Jack Bauer, are you not?

HELLER

How the hell could you…

Anger flashes through his eyes as he puts the pieces together.

HELLER

Alright, I’m listening.

INT. CTU - TWELVE HOURS LATER

Audrey is on the phone with a navy admiral. With information that Charles Logan gave her father, they were able to locate the ship Jack is on, and the Navy is preparing to storm the ship after flagging it with a distress signal in hopes that that will enable them to peacefully engage.

AUDREY

Admiral, how far out are your men?

ADMIRAL

Within 10 miles…they should be able to put out the signal
as soon as they can come into plain site.

AUDREY

Chloe, did you reposition the satellite?

CHLOE

Yeah, I should have it up any minute.

AUDREY

Admiral, is the distressed vehicle disguised.

ADMIRAL

Yes. From the ship alone the Chinese won’t know it’s an
American naval vessel. But they will be on the lookout for interference, and
they may not respond to the signal.

AUDREY

What happens if they don’t respond to the signal? What’s your contingency plan?

ADMIRAL

We’re going to do everything we can to get him off that ship safely, ma’am. But we’re going to have to stop that ship from reaching China by any means necessary.

Audrey sighs, knowing full well the implications of that
statement.

AUDREY

I…I understand.

CUT TO:

INT. CHINESE VESSEL - LOWER LEVEL

JACK BAUER is tied to the bottom of the ship face down, his face all bloody. With his legs, he is slowly making progress loosening a plank of wood. With a hard kick, he eventually yanks it loose, then begins the painstaking task of moving the plank to within reach. After a few kicks, he strains his arms as far as they will go in a position that looks painful,
missing a few times until he is able to move the wood to within reach of his
hands. He then struggles to rub the plank of wood against the wood poll to
which he is tied, with the goal of igniting a fire. The process is painstaking,
as being handcuffed limits his ability to rub the two pieces of wood
consistently, and for every time he manages to successfully rub his piece
against the pole he misses two other times. He stops short and hides the wood as he hears and we see DENG approach.

BACK TO:

INT. CTU

CHLOE

Alright, I’ve got a live feed.

She puts it up on the big screen. Audrey, Bill, and Morris
gather around. Audrey flinches when she sees the ship. On Audrey’s screen, the Admiral speaks through the video messaging system. Audrey runs back to her computer to talk to him. ON SCREEN, an unlabeled sailboat appears to be having a problem with its sail. The ship tosses around violently as the crewmen appear to scramble to fix the sail. When they are unable to fix the problem, an Asian “fisherman” on board waves a distress signal.

EXPAND TO FULL as the distress signal is seen from the deck of the Chinese vessel.

SHIP CAPTAIN

(in Chinese, with subtitles)

Admiral, we have an SOS from what looks like a civilian
sailboat.

ADMIRAL

It is a trap. It’s the Americans. Do not engage.

CAPTAIN

It is just a sailboat. The captain looks like one of our own.

ADMIRAL

Of course. That is what they want us to think.

CAPTAIN

What if we are wrong? We can’t ignore a cry for help from one of our own. And even if you are right, if we ignore a distressed vessel, the Americans will know this is the ship. We can’t take the risk that the Americans will attack.

The two men continue to argue as the captain begins to steer the ship toward the distressed sailboat, which continues to thrash around violently as its crew scrambles to stay afloat without the sail. Back at CTU, everyone watches hopefully as the Chinese vessel appears to take the bait and starts moving toward the “distressed sailboat”.

MORRIS

(as if he is coaxing the ship)

Come on…that’s it.

Chloe gives him a LOOK.

AUDREY

Something’s wrong. Why would they take the bait? It seems too easy.

BILL

They don’t have a choice. They must know we’re onto them. If they ignore the distressed ship, it’ll give us a confirmation that Jack’s on board. They can’t risk the chance that we’ll take out the ship covertly.

Audrey nods but doesn’t seem convinced.

SPLIT SCREEN shows Audrey biting her nails nervously and Jack continuing to struggle with the plank of wood.

Behind Jack is a CAN OF OIL, which he is attempting to kick.

STAY WITH AUDREY as she stares up at the screen nervously, along with Chloe, Morris and Bill.

ON THE SCREEN, the Chinese vessel edges closer to the navy sailboat.

Suddenly, a LOUD NOISE is heard, and the ship instantly goes UP IN FLAMES.

Everyone gasps.

AUDREY

(voice shaky)

Admiral, what’s going on?

ADMIRAL

I don’t know, ma’am…we’re seeing the same thing you’re
seeing.

AUDREY

Why is the sailboat moving further away? Tell them to do
something!

ADMIRAL

They’re not equipped to put out what looks like an
oil-induced fire, ma’am. They need to get to safety.

AUDREY

You can’t just leave him there!

ADMIRAL

I’m sending two vessels designed for maritime fire
intervention as well as some search and rescue teams. They should be on site within ten minutes.

AUDREY

Ten minutes? That’s way too long! Are you out of your mind?

Bill sees that she is starting to behave irrationally, and he
approaches her cautiously.

BILL

(calmly)

Audrey.

He gently pries the headset she is wearing to talk to the
admiral off of her and signals to another CTU employee to come take over.

Morris grips Chloe’s arm reassuringly. Chloe is too shell
shocked to push him away.

CHLOE

I don’t understand…why would the Chinese blow up the ship if they wanted to use Jack as leverage?

Bill glances hesitantly at Audrey, who is willing him not to
state the obvious.

BILL

(softly)

The Chinese wouldn’t.

Audrey shakes her head defiantly.

AUDREY

NO! Don’t say it! Please, just don’t say it?

Her tone changes from defiant to desperate as she breaks down and starts to cry hysterically. Bill gently coaxes her away from the room, her eyes fixated on the burning ship that remains on the screen.

END WITH a blurry shot of the screen, which Chloe and Morris are still watching with disbelief, as seen through Audrey’s tears.

EXT. RUSSELL SENATE BUILDING - ONE MONTH
LATER

Audrey is walking with a Senator outside the Rayburn Senate Office building, two Secret Service agents in toe. On a nearby street corner, a young Asian woman is passing out leaflets.

SENATOR

I’m sympathetic to your cause, I really am, but you have to understand…

AUDREY

(offended)

My cause? That’s what you think this is? Cooperate with me or don’t cooperate with me, but at least have the decency not to treat me like some kind of rebellious teenager who decided to use some pet political cause as the latest means of rebelling against my parents.

SENATOR

I’m sorry…that’s not what I meant to imply. I know you
aren’t doing this to rebel against your father, but I don’t see how I can go
against him on this…surely there’s something else I can do for you, some
other way we can resolve this.

AUDREY

(icily)

If you think I can be placated or bought you’re mistaken.
There will be an investigation into Jack Bauer’s death with or without your
help.

As they continue to argue, the Asian woman approaches with
leaflets. Secret Service starts to intervene but Audrey waves them away,
clearly intrigued by the flyer.

A CLOSE UP shot reveals that it is a pamphlet detailing
alleged Chinese human rights violations.

SENATOR

(in background)

Audrey, come on. Your father’s one of my closest
friends…I’ve known you since you were a baby…

A little piece of paper falls out of the pamphlet, and as
Audrey bends down to pick it up she stops DEAD IN HER TRACKS. We do not see what she picked up, but we see the terrified look on her face. The camera rotates to show the world spinning for Audrey as she digests the meaning of whatever she just saw.

FADE OUT.

END OF SHOW