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This is the first part of the actual series, which takes place about a month after the prequel, 2 months after season 5. It’s kind of a hybrid between screenplay and prose format because I am trying to write it in prose since that’s what people seem to prefer, but my natural inclination is to write it like a screenplay for an actual episode, so please bear with me on that.
The following takes place between 1 PM and 2 PM EST/1 AM and 2 AM Chinese Standard Time/2 AM and 3 AM Korean Standard Time/10 AM and 11 AM PST

UNDERGROUND PARKING GARAGE - WEIHEI AIRPORT, CHINA - 1:00:03 AM Local Time
A tall, thin man of Asian descent gets out of a long black limousine. He is met by a shorter Asian man, who approaches cautiously.

“Do you have the package?” the second man asks. The first man nods.

“Did you open it?”

“The first rule of the business is never to open the package,” the first man responds.

“Very good,” the shorter man says curtly, and together they pull a long duffel bag out of the back of the limousine and load it onto a helicopter. The short man takes a much smaller package from the pilot’s seat of the plane and hands it to the transporter.

The transporter briefly opens the case to reveal stacks of large bills.

The two men nod curtly and part ways.

The garage is shown from the outside as it is rocked by a sudden EXPLOSION.

INT. AIR FORCE ONE - 02:03:08 AM Local Time
PRESIDENT HAL GARDNER is sitting in his on-flight office looking over a stack of papers. He looks up when MIKE NOVICK enters the room.

“We’ll be on the ground in less than an hour, sir,” Mike informs him.

“Did you talk to Jim?” Gardner asks.

“Yes, sir.”

From the look on Mike’s face Gardner can tell the news is not good.

“And?” he prompts.

“And he said exactly what we knew he was going to say. His daughter hasn’t spoken to him since the day you announced his nomination. He doesn’t have any control over what she does anymore.”

“Can he at least try to talk to her?”

“He said if he does that it’ll only make her more determined.”

“Then have Secret Service come up with a security-related reason to keep her from going to the embassy.”

Mike sighs.

“With all due respect, sir, I’m not sure that’s the right way to handle this. If you do that, it will be obvious that we were trying to suppress what she wanted to say.”

“I don’t care if we offend the ACLU! She is going to undermine the negotiations if she does this!”

“Not necessarily,” Mike says. “If anything, this could play to our advantage.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re trying to send a message to the Chinese about free speech. What better way to do that than to let the Vice President’s daughter publicly speak out against an agreement her father has been pivotal in negotiating.”

Gardner sighs.

“I don’t get it. I first met his daughter when she was a bright-eyed young legislative assistant for House Armed Services. She used to worship her father back then. What happened?”

“A lot has changed since then, sir,” Novak says with a sigh. “A lot has changed.”

CHINESE PRISON - LOCATION UNKNOWN
JACK BAUER is chained to the ground face up. A Chinese prison guard slaps a hot iron across his bare chest, causing him to scream in pain.

Off-screen, AUDREY RAINES gasps with horror.

“Please, stop it,” she begs tearfully.

“This can end whenever you want it to,” the man says tauntingly.

“No, I can’t…I can’t do what you’re asking,” she says, the terror apparent in her voice.

“Understood,” the man says, and slaps Jack with the hot iron again. Audrey screams in horror.

“Please, stop it!”

“You have the power to make it stop,” the man says calmly, and goes to touch Jack with the iron again.

“No!” Audrey screams, causing him to pause as he awaits her answer.

“Alright, alright. I’ll do whatever you want, just stop hurting him!” she pleads.

“Don’t do it, Audrey…don’t do it,” she hears Jack yell.

His voice continues echoing in her head as the image becomes more and more blurry. In the background, a banging noise is heard.

HOTEL ROOM - SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - 02:05:48 AM Local Time
Audrey jumps up in bed, shaking with fear as she turns the light on.

She looks around the room and slowly accepts that it was just a nightmare, but is too shaken up to go back to sleep.

We hear the banging noise again. This time, it is clear that the noise is someone knocking on her door.

“Come in!” she yells, her voice a little shaky.

SECRET SERVICE AGENT AARON PIERCE enters the room.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry to disturb you so late, but I have your father on the phone,” Pierce explains. “He says it’s urgent.”

Audrey sighs, exasperated.

“Do you want me to tell him you won’t pick up?” Pierce asks.

“No, I’ll take it. Thanks,” she says with a sigh.

She takes the phone from him and waits for him to leave the room.

“Dad, you’re wasting your time,” she says shortly. She hears her father sigh, exasperated.

“I’m not calling to try to talk you out of speaking at the Embassy tomorrow.”

“Then what’s this about?” she asks impatiently.

“I need to talk to you.”

“Fine, I’m listening.”

“In person,” he insists.

“Dad…” she protests, but he cuts her off.

“I’m on my way over to you. I’ll be there in about 5 minutes,” he says firmly.

She sighs, realizing he’s not giving her an option.

“Audrey, I wouldn’t do this unless it was really important,” her father continues. “I know you’re angry with me, but right now I need you to trust me. Can you do that?”

“Fine, I’ll see you in five minutes,” she says flatly.

“Thank you,” her father says, relieved.

Audrey hangs up the phone and wipes tears from her eyes. Still shaken up from the dream, she gets up and reaches into her suitcase, where she pulls out a maroon Stanford sweatshirt and puts it on. It is way too big for her.

She gets back into bed and reaches into the front pocket of the sweatshirt, retrieving a picture of her and Jack that was taken the night before he had to disappear, right before all hell broke loose almost two years earlier. They look so happy and carefree there, with Jack standing behind Audrey on the beach in Santa Monica, his arms draped around her waist, his head buried in her neck. Audrey smiles sadly as she remembers how she had trouble getting him to stop kissing her long enough to pose for a picture. Back then, they had no idea it would be the last real time they got to spend together. They were so naive back then, believing that they had the rest of their lives.

She kisses the picture and then puts it away, curling up into a ball. She hugs the sweatshirt to her body as tears begin to fall.

SECRET SERVICE VEHICLE - SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
About 6 miles from Audrey’s hotel, her father hangs up the phone and sighs. It is obvious how much his daughter’s anger is tearing him apart.

“Still giving you the cold shoulder, eh?” asks his aide, Scott Boren.

“Yeah, you could say that,” Heller says, resigned.

“But she agreed to see you?”

“I didn’t give her much of a choice.”

“She’ll come around eventually, sir.”

“Yeah,” the Vice President scoffs, not really believing it.

His cell phone rings.

“Heller here.”

A SPLIT SCREEN reveals one of the men from the parking garage on the other end.

“Mission accomplished,” the man says, and promptly hangs up.

———-COMMERCIAL BREAK———————–