Act One
“24″
“2 P.M. - 3 P.M.”
The following takes place between 2 PM and 3 PM on the day of the Presidential Inauguration:
ACT ONE
FADE IN:
INT. WAREHOUSE - PASADENA, CA - 11:00:01 LOCAL TIME
CAMERA FOLLOWS CURTIS MANNING as he runs out into the work area and sees Agent Joffey pulling a charred body away from a flaming car.
CURTIS
What happened?
AGENT JOFFEY
Howard went to try to open the car and it exploded.
CURTIS
Jesus Christ. Does he have a pulse?
JOFFEY
Not that I can feel.
CURTIS
Alright, bring him over here.
They lay AGENT HOWARD BERN’S body down on the ground and examine it.
JOFFEY
Howard, can you hear me?
No response. Joffey checks for a pulse and a heartbeat.
JOFFEY
(voice shaky)
He’s dead.
CUT TO:
INT. CTU WASHINGTON/BALTIMORE: CONFERENCE ROOM
CHASE EDMUNDS is briefing TONY ALMEIDA on what CTU Los Angeles found at the warehouse. Tony has a distraught look on his face.
TONY
I don’t understand…there were pictures of me, Michelle, and President Palmer…but not Jack?
CHASE
Not that they could find…I asked.
TONY
And none of Chloe?
CHASE
No.
Tony puts his hands in his face and sighs, looking utterly spent and ready to give up.
CUT TO:
OMITTED INT. CTU WASHINGTON/BALTIMORE: MAIN FLOOR - CONTINUOUS
CTU Analyst TINA DOWNEY approaches Tony.
TINA
Mr. Almeida, Susan wanted me to let you know that Xing Shin had arrived.
TONY
Where is he?
TINA
He just cleared security.
TONY
Alright, thanks.
Tony walks over to the entrance, where Xing is being escorted by two guards, looking terrified.
TONY
I’ll assume custody from here. Thank you.
The guard nods. Tony motions for Xing to follow him.
Tony, what’s going on? They said Richard’s been kidnapped.
TONY
Yeah.
(close to tears)
I don’t understand…Secret Service picked him up…I was there…
TONY
Unfortunately, it appears that someone posing as Secret Service got to him first.
Xing looks horrified and shaken up. Tony escorts him to a holding room and motions for him to have a seat.
TONY
Listen, I know you had nothing to do with what happened to Richard, but it’s standard procedure to use a polygraph whenever we question a witness. You were the only one we know of who’s likely to know any details of how he was taken, and I ask that you cooperate in order to maximize our chances of finding Richard, alright?
Xing nods slowly, looking intimidated.
CUT TO:
INT. WHITE HOUSE: UNDERGROUND BUNKER
AUDREY
(on phone)
No, I don’t want to put a freeze on the account…I understand that…I’ll sign a waiver of liability if you need me to…I need you to keep the account active and notify me of any activity immediately…I’ll go through law enforcement channels if I have to.
She hangs up. JACK BAUER enters the room.
JACK
Hey…any attempts to access your account?
Audrey sighs.
AUDREY
No. The woman at the bank was giving me a hard time…she wanted to freeze the account because she’s afraid I’ll sue them if someone makes an unauthorized transaction.
JACK
I’ll call Tony and have him call from CTU and make sure they don’t freeze it.
AUDREY
Thanks.
JACK
Listen, I hate to add to everything you’re dealing with right now, but CTU Los Angeles found something I thought you should know about.
AUDREY
What’s going on?
JACK
Chloe and Edgar discovered that someone at CTU or Division sent what they believe is footage of us together from the security camera in the clinic after your abduction to an IP address that they identified as belonging to Tad Williams.
AUDREY
WHAT???
JACK
I don’t know what this is about…CTU is looking into it now…I just thought you should know.
AUDREY
Do you think that has something to do with why the terrorists who called me asked about us?
JACK
It might…although I have no idea why our relationship is of interest to these terrorists.
AUDREY
I don’t either.
CUT TO:
INT. CTU WASHINGTON-BALTIMORE: MAIN FLOOR
CTU Director SUSAN WALKER walks over to the COMM department.
SUSAN
Scott, did you get a hold of Secret Service?
SCOTT
Yeah, I told them they needed to up President Palmer’s protection…I’m waiting for confirmation that they did it.
The phone rings.
SCOTT
That’s probably them now.
(into phone)
CTU, Marshall. Here, to CTU? Alright, let me check.
He puts the phone on hold and turns to Susan.
SCOTT
Secret Service alerted President Palmer of the threat and that they plan to increase his protection level, and he asked if he could come here, to CTU.
SUSAN
Why does he want to do that?
SCOTT
He thinks he may be able to help us identify the source of the threat. He wants to sit down with Tony Almeida and see if they can’t put their heads together and figure out who’s threatening them. He wants me to check with you to make sure he wouldn’t be stepping on anyone’s toes.
Susan sighs, looking uneasy for a minute, then nods.
SUSAN
No, of course not.
SCOTT
Alright.
INT. WHITE HOUSE: PRESS ROOM - CONTINUOUS
Acting President JAMES HELLER is addressing a crowd of reporters.
HELLER
About an hour and a half ago, my son was abducted by terrorists posing as Secret Service agents.
His announcement elicits gasps from the reporters in the room. His statement continues in the background as the CAMERA PANS TO Patricia, who is standing off to the side of the podium. A reporter approaches.
PATRICIA
You’ll get a chance to ask questions during the briefing just like everyone else.
REPORTER
I’m doing this as a favor, and I hope that you’ll remember this next time you have a tip.
PATRICIA
What are you talking about?
REPORTER
You need to listen to this.
He gives her a headset. She listens, disturbed by what she hears.
PATRICIA
Do all of the media outlets have this?
REPORTER
I don’t know. We got an anonymous envelope a little while ago with this tape.
Patricia motions for Mike Novick to come over. Mike listens to the tape and whispers something to the reporter.
PATRICIA
I want you to stick around and brief the president when he’s done his statement. If he finishes before I get back get him away from the reporters and tell them I’ll be there shortly. I want to give Audrey a heads-up.
Mike nods. Patricia walks out into the hallway.
CUT TO:
INT. CTU WASHINGTON/BALTIMORE: HOLDING ROOM
TONY
So he refused to take you with him?
Yeah, the Secret Service guy said he was only authorized to take Richard…Richard started to argue but I reminded him that he promised Audrey he’d cooperate.
TONY
Did you speak to him at any time after that?
No, I tried to call him a few times but I couldn’t get through. The cell phone circuits were overloaded after President Logan collapsed…Richard had trouble even getting through to Audrey to find out what was going on.
TONY
Yeah, I know…we were both trying to get a hold of him for a while. Did the man who picked up Richard give any idea where he was going?
No…he said an undisclosed location.
Tony’s phone rings.
TONY
Excuse me.
He walks out into the observing area.
TONY
Almeida.
INTERCUT: INT. CTU / INT. PENTAGON
MICHELLE
Tony, it’s me.
TONY
Hey…what’s going on? Did you hear back from the police?
MICHELLE
Yeah…from the preliminary analysis, it looks like Sergio didn’t die as a result of the car being hit.
TONY
What do they think caused his death?
Michelle takes a deep breath, fighting back tears.
MICHELLE
They think it may be chemical poisoning.
TONY
What kind of chemical?
MICHELLE
Some kind of chemical agent…they think it may even be VX.
TONY
VX???
MICHELLE
They don’t know for sure yet…I told him to send what he had to CTU…make sure they did that.
TONY
Alright.
MICHELLE
I don’t understand this…why would anyone want to kill Sergio?
Tony sighs.
TONY
I don’t know exactly how to tell you this, but I don’t think Sergio was the target.
MICHELLE
What do you mean?
TONY
Curtis went to check out a warehouse in Pasadena that we linked to the terrorists Jack and Chase took down at L’Enfant Plaza, and they found pictures of us in the drawers of the office.
MICHELLE
What?
TONY
We don’t know who these guys are yet or why they’re interested in us, but there were pictures of President Palmer too.
MICHELLE
What about Chloe?
TONY
No, none of Chloe…that’s what’s strange about this. Listen, I called PFPA and asked them to send two agents to keep an eye on you until we figure out what the hell is going on.
MICHELLE
Okay.
TONY
Be careful, alright?
MICHELLE
Yeah. You too.
CUT TO:
INT. WHITE HOUSE - UNDERGROUND BUNKER
Jack and Audrey are watching the speech. Audrey struggles to focus on reading the latest intelligence brief while Jack checks the status report from NSA on a laptop.
AUDREY
So how was your conversation with your daughter? It must have been good to talk to her.
JACK
Yeah. Yeah, it was…it was so good to hear her voice.
AUDREY
That’s great. You must be really excited to see her later.
JACK
(vaguely)
Yeah.
AUDREY
You don’t sound so sure.
JACK
I guess I’m just nervous…I haven’t seen her in three years, and I guess I feel a little guilty…I can’t help but feel like I abandoned her. When the aide came to tell me she was on the phone earlier, I realized I didn’t even know her number.
Audrey places a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
AUDREY
You didn’t abandon her, Jack. You did what you had to.
JACK
That doesn’t make it okay.
Audrey’s phone rings before she can respond.
INT. CTU WASHINGTON-BALTIMORE PAN CTU INTERIOR:
People can be seen typing frantically. Phones are heard in the background.
FOLLOW Chase as he walks across the floor.
CHASE
(into phone)
Alright, we’ll keep you posted.
He hangs up and approaches Tony.
CHASE
Any update from Michelle on your car?
TONY
No, not yet. But we need to start investigating this…if there’s any possibility that someone’s in possession of VX we have to be prepared.
CHASE
I don’t disagree, but we’re overextended here. The network breach has essentially made DOD useless, and between the air traffic attack, President Logan collapsing, and Richard Heller’s abduction, we’re stretched thin. I just got off the phone with Jack, and he said there’ still been no contact from the kidnappers…something’s not right here. Why would they wait so long?
TONY
I’ve been wondering the same thing.
CHASE
Do you think it’s possible that the abduction has some objective other than to use the kid as leverage?
TONY
What do you mean?
CHASE
We’ve been acting under the assumption that someone was using you and Audrey and Michelle and President Palmer to get to Jack…but what if it’s the other way around? What if they’re using Jack and the people connected to him as a diversion for their true objective?
TONY
I guess that’s possible…what do you think their objective is?
CHASE
Given what Michelle told you, I think it could be some kind of chemical attack.
TONY
Geez…I guess it’s possible, but that still doesn’t explain why they haven’t gone after Chloe, nor does it explain why the terrorists were interested in Jack and Audrey’s relationship.
CHASE
Or her bank information…if they wanted ransom money why would they be stupid enough to do it in a way that leaves a paper trail instead of demanding cash or a wire transfer?
TONY
Holy shit.
CHASE
What?
TONY
(panicked)
I think this could be some sort of a setup.
CHASE
What do you mean?
TONY
What if someone’s trying to make it look like Audrey had something to do with President Logan collapsing, and they’re using her bank transactions as evidence and her relationship with Jack to demonstrate a motive?
CHASE
How would her bank statements be evidence, unless they’re modified?
Tony sighs.
TONY
She’s been withdrawing large sums of money and giving it to me to make certain transactions she didn’t want disclosed to the public.
CHASE
What kind of transactions?
TONY
A variety of things. Nothing illegitimate or illegal but the fact that her bank statements show unusually large withdrawals of cash leaves her vulnerable…there’s no way to prove where the money went, and even if she tells the truth it looks sketchy…and my record doesn’t exactly help her establish credibility. G-d, how could I be so stupid? How the hell did I not see this coming?
CHASE
Come on, Tony. There’s no way you could have predicted any of this. And we don’t even know if you’re right.
TONY
I sure as hell hope I’m wrong, because if I’m right it’s going to be next to impossible to set the record straight.
FADE OUT.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
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