24fanfiction.com

The following takes place between 8 AM and 9 AM EST on the day of the presidential inauguration:

ACT ONE

FADE IN:

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND - EDGEWOOD CHEMICAl WEAPONS FACILITY

Two members of Shining Path, ALEJANDRO and PEDRO, are driving around the perimeter of the facility in a red van.

ALEJANDRO

(In Spanish)

Did Jose get the codes yet?

PEDRO

Not yet. He just captured the woman…he’s going to threaten to kill her husband if she doesn’t help him steal the server.

ALEJANDRO

And he’s sure she will give in.

PEDRO

Yes. She is crazy about him. She knows nothing of his extracurricular activities. She still thinks he did what he did four years ago to save her…she has no idea that it was all part of a plan.

ALEJANDRO

Are you sure we can trust Jose? Something seemed fishy…he insisted that he be the one to go to the Pentagon…it was like he didn’t want anyone else around.

PEDRO

Eh, he probably wanted a chance to do her…sounds like she’s a pretty hot chica. Besides, he is the only one who could get into the Pentagon.

ALEJANDRO

You are probably right…I have a bad feeling though. Jose seemed a little too curious.

PEDRO

Don’t worry…I’ve taken care of Jose.

ALEJANDRO

What about the girl?

PEDRO

Taken care of her too.

INT. CTU LOS ANGELES - 5:02:43 AM LOCAL TIME

CHLOE O’BRIEN frantically jots down as much as she can make out of the conversation, using a Spanish/English transcription/translation tool on her computer to help.

She hears footsteps and frantically minimizes her window and tries to appear busy refreshing her chrome tables as CTU Director ERIN DRISCOLl approaches.

DRISCOLL

Good morning, Chloe. You’re at work awfully early today. What’s going on?

CHLOE

Um, yeah, it’s kind of a pre inauguration tradition to stay here all night that’s been going on for twelve years now. Besides, I had a lot of work to do…there’s a new malicious worm going around and I had to update the security on the Field Ops computers. Is there anything you need me to do?

DRISCOLL

Actually, there is. As you may have already heard, it appears my predecessor may have been involved with a cyberterrorist attack on the Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Washington.

CHLOE

You mean Tony Almeida?

DRISCOLL

Yes, of course I mean Tony Almeida. I need you to go through his personnel file, all of his past cases, his court records, the records from his background investigations, everything, and see if you can find any links to the Latin American terrorist group Shining Path, or Sindero Luminoso in Spanish.

CHLOE

Are they sure Tony did this?

DRISCOLL

Well, it was done from his login at the Pentagon, and apparently he’s admitted to it. He claims he was acting on his own, to get revenge at the government for putting him in prison and for what happened to Jack Bauer, but they think he might be acting in conjunction with Shining Path or another Latin American terrorist group. They’re investigating now but they asked us to help because he used to work here and a lot of his classified files are here.

CHLOE

Alright, I’ll get right on it.

Chloe pulls up Tony’s personnel file and some info about SL. When Driscoll is safely out of sight and earshot, she picks up her hidden personal cell and frantically dials a number.

Unable to get through, she returns to the personnel file and uses the secret access code Michelle had made for her before leaving Division.

With her higher level of access, she begins to alter Tony’s file, creating a new connection between Tony and Shining Path in order to hide the real one.

INT. PENTAGON / EXT. OSD - 08:05:37

Audrey glances at her watch and wonders what’s taking Michelle so long. She is surprised to see Skip approaching the office.

AUDREY

Skip…what are you doing here?

SKIP

Oh, hey sweetheart. Just stopping by to talk to Secretary Cummings for a sec…is he in his office?

AUDREY

No…he was a minute ago…I think he went to see what was going on with the interrogation…you know, it’s still my dad’s office right now.

SKIP

Yeah, I know…sorry. Most of the other cabinet members have already resigned, so I just kinda forgot. So what do you think about the whole air traffic thing? Can you believe Tony did this?

AUDREY

We don’t know that he did it…it’s too early to jump to conclusions…anyone could have found a way to use his login.

SKIP

Yeah, but he says he did it…why would he lie about it?

AUDREY

I don’t know…I have no idea…I just don’t think he did it…why would he be stupid enough to use his own login?

SKIP

I don’t know…maybe he wanted to make a statement.

AUDREY

Skip, you’ve known Tony for almost as long as I have…you really think he could have done this?

SKIP

I guess…I don’t see why you’re so shocked about this, Audrey. I mean, I know he’s a friend of yours, but given the guy’s record, I can’t say I’m all that surprised.

AUDREY

Didn’t we argue enough about this yesterday, Skip? i know you think what he did was reprehensible and that there’s no justification, but do you really think Tony would do something like this?

SKIP

I don’t know. But I wouldn’t be all that surprised. And before you dismiss me as crazy, you might want to look at some of the chatter that was picked up this morning from members of the Peruvian terrorist group Shining Path.

AUDREY

What the hell are you talking about?

SKIP

I don’t know that much…just overheard someone from DIA brief Cummings. Ask your dad…maybe he has more information. Anyways, I’ve got to go to a meeting…want to meet for lunch later?

AUDREY

Not today, Skip…I have too much to do, with the inauguration, the transition, and all this.

SKIP

Alright, I’ll see you at home then.

He gives her a quick kiss, which she does not return, still in disbelief at what he said.

INT. PENTAGON - NETOPS - 08:06:48

BRIAN

Jeff, have you seen Zoe?

JEFF

Yeah, she was in here about 10 minutes ago…I think she went back to her office to check on something…what’s up?

BRIAN

I just wanted to check with her to see if anyone else could have used the login id from which the attack was triggered…Michelle wanted me to check on that.

JEFF

That’s funny…Zoe was just saying something about that. She said she thinks the new Secretary called and asked that that login info be shared with someone in his office…she was going to check who it was and if it was the same ID. I’ll go find her and see if she found anything out.

BRIAN

Alright, thanks. Tell her to come see me when you find her.

Jeff walks down the hall and into Zoe’s office and is stunned to find Zoe tied up and fast asleep.

JEFF

Zoe! Oh my g-d, what happened?

He shakes her, trying to waker her up. When this does not work, he picks up his phone and calls Brian.

JEFF

(panicked)

Brian, I just found Zoe…someone tied her up and drugged her out…no, I don’t know how long she’s been here like this, but she needs help…

fade out.

COMMERCIAL BREAK - 08:08:38

ACT TWO

FADE IN:

INT. OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSe (OSD) - 08:12:42

Audrey waits until her father gets off the phone and then walks over to his desk.

HELLER

Oh, hey, Audrey, I didn’t see you. Were you waiting long?

AUDREY

No, only a minute. Can I talk to you?

HELLER

Sure, have a seat. What’s going on?

AUDREY

I first met Jack Bauer four years ago, when he came to interview for the job. We started talking while he was waiting to meet with you and we really hit it off, so he asked if he could take me out for dinner.

Heller looks surprised to hear her mention Jack but doesn’t say anything.

AUDREY

But then he got a call that he had to rush back to LA to testify at Tony’s trial. I had heard about the case and I was curious, so Jack managed to get me an audio feed of the day he testified. Right before he spoke, one of their coworkers…Chloe, I think her name is, described how after letting the terrorist escape, Tony had deleted the satellite photos of the terrorist walking out of the building using an anonymous login and scrambled the audio of their phone conversation to make it harder for Chloe to figure out what was going on…and he did all of this while the terrorists were still holding his wife hostage and threatening to kill her when he been working for over 14 hours straight after having been shot in the neck and gone through surgery less that 24 hours earlier.

HELLER

What’s your point, Audrey?

AUDREY

My point is that if Tony was careful enough to use an anonymous login and try to cover up what he did when acting under extreme duress, if he was part of a premeditated terrorist conspiracy to shut down the ATCSCC, I don’t think he’d have been stupid enough to use his own login.

HELLER

I’ll admit I’m pretty surprised myself, but he’s admitted to it, and I don’t see any reason why he would take responsibility for a terrorist attack he didn’t play a role in. I feel pretty foolish…I guess i underestimated the degree to which Tony’s experiences embittered him.

AUDREY

I don’t think you did. Tony was just in my office twenty minutes ago…I called him in because I wanted to see how he was holding up since Cummings made that big scene about his record at the meeting the other day, and I forget how we got on the topic, but he was saying how lucky he feels that everything turned out the way it did. Four years ago he lost everything…his job, the woman he loves, even his freedom for a while. Now he’s happily married again, he’s got a great job, and Michelle’s two months pregnant…why would he throw all of that away just to get some sort of revenge for what happened four years ago, when he’s worked so hard to put his life back together and move past all that?

Heller sighs, unable to disagree with her assessment.

HELLER

I don’t know…it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

AUDREY

If he harbored so much bitterness against the government, why would he have put his life on the line to help stop the terrorists three years ago?

HELLER

I don’t know, Audrey, I don’t know. He says…I don’t know how to tell you this, but I believe the man interrogating Tony may be the agent who was responsible for Jack’s death, and Tony claims that his actions today are in part revenge for what happened to Jack.

AUDREY

What? That doesn’t make any sense…

HELLER

Tony was the first one to find Jack after he was killed…i guess nobody realized the impact it had on him.

AUDREY

Look, Dad, I can’t go into detail, so I’m probably not going to make any sense, but I have reason to believe that there is more to this than what appears on the surface. I know that Tony didn’t do this to get revenge for Jack’s death.

HELLER

How do you know that?

AUDREY

I can’t tell you that.

Heller sighs.

AUDREY

I know that’s not helpful but I really need you to trust me.

HELLER

Go on.

AUDREY

I talked to Michelle and she says Tony was with her at the time of the attack…she’s awaiting security camera footage that will back her up on that. Network services is in the process of identifying the workstation from which the attack was launched. When they do, we can get a forensics team to analyze the keyboard and mouse and see if the fingerprints on it match with Tony’s.

HELLER

Alright, then we’ll know soon enough. I hope for everyone’s sake that there’s been some kind of mistake…I’m as shocked as you are about this, believe me.

AUDREY

I don’t think we have the luxury of waiting until all that comes through.

HELLER

What do you mean?

AUDREY

You know as well as I do that Cummings has an inexplicable grudge against Tony, and if you don’t act now to ensure that he’s really guilty, he’ll never have a chance to have his innocence or guilt judged fairly. Michelle said that it sounded like they were gagging him and possibly beating him…she called his phone and the agent answered it and started threatening her and cursing at her.

Heller sighs, disturbed by what he is hearing.

AUDREY

Dad, Tony saved my more than once…don’t you think we at least owe it to him to make sure we have all the facts before passing judgment?

HELLER

Alright, I’ll go see if I can have a word with him. Come get me if there are any updates on the security camera footage and the workstation.

AUDREY

Alright.

INT. PENTAGON - NETOPS - 08:17:18

Brian runs into Zoe’s office, where Jeff is trying to wake her up.

BRIAN

Let me see her.

Jeff gets out of the way, and Brian kneels down next to Zoe.

BRIAN

Zoe, can you hear me? Zoe, it’s Brian. Zoe, wake up.

JEFF

I tried that and didn’t have any luck…she’s out cold. He looks sick with worry. Is she going to be okay?

BRIAN

Yeah, she should be fine when she wakes up…it looks like someone just gave her a tranquilizer or something like that to knock her out temporarily…the question is, who would do this, and why?

JEFF

Do you think it has something to do with the login id she was going to check on? Maybe whoever she gave the login to didn’t want us to find out.

BRIAN

It’s possible…you said she thinks the login from which the attack was triggered is the same login as she was asked to give to someone earlier this morning?

JEFF

Yeah, she was going to her office to check last I talked to her, then I found her like this. She mentioned something about a stickie with the recipient on it…

BRIAN

Did you check her desk for the stickie?

JEFF

I glanced around, but I didn’t spend too much time looking because I was trying to wake her up…I was a little worried. I’ll check again.

BRIAN

Alright.

Jeff gets up and searches Zoe’s desk while Brian calls Michelle.

JEFF

I’m not seeing anything…her desk is pretty neat, and the only stickie here is to remind her of a doctor’s appointment tomorrow.

BRIAN

Did Zoe tell you who she gave the login id to?

JEFF

She didn’t remember for sure…she thought it was someone named Skip…I think she said the lastname was Tyler, or Taylor, or something like that.

BRIAN

Alright, I can’t reach Michelle…I’m going to go see if i can find her. In the meantime, call OSD and give them an update. Get me on my cell the second Zoe wakes up…let me know if she remembers anything.

JEFF

Alright.

INT. PENTAGON - BASEMENT - CONSOLIDATEd SERVER ROOM

The masked man holds Michelle at gunpoint, with tape over her mouth, as she swipes her card to get into the room, frantically trying to say something through the muffle.

The man drags her inside and shoves her to the ground.

Seeing that she is still frantically trying to speak, he adjusts the tape, pretending to tighten it, but in reality, he makes it loose enough that he can make out what she is saying.

MICHELLE

(Through tape)

What the hell were you thinking?

The man takes out a handheld Blackberry device from Michelle’s purse, places it in front of her, and goes over to a computer and starts typing a message to the Blackberry.

ON COMPUTER SCREEN:

“I can’t talk - I’m being monitored. Is there a problem?”

MICHELLE

Don’t play games with me. The only reason I agreed to get involved in your cockamamee scheme is because you promised me, you swore to me, that you would leave Tony out of it.

ON BLACKBERRY SCREEN:

“I did.”

MICHELLE

Don’t play games with me. Tony’s worked so hard to get his life back on track. What the hell were you thinking, getting him to take the heat for one of your terrorist buddies for the air traffic attack?

ON BLACKBERRY SCREEN:

“What air traffic attack?”

MICHELLE

You honestly don’t know?

The masked man shakes his head.

MICHELLE

A little over an hour ago, the servers at the Air Traffic Control System Command Center went down in what they believe was a denial of service attack. Twenty minutes later, I got a report saying the attack had been triggered from inside the Pentagon, and I recognized the login id as Tony’s. i knew he didn’t do it because I was with him at the time of the attack, but before I could do anything they had taken him into custody and he’s telling them that he did it…I have security camera footage that will prove him innocent and I was supposed to meet Audrey with it before she went to talk to her dad…I was on my way to give it to her when you grabbed me.

The masked man seems jolted by what she said.

ON COMPUTER SCREEN:

“What’s she doing here?”

MICHELLE

Long story. Are you honestly telling me you didn’t put him to this?

The man shakes his head and continues typing.

ON COMPUTER SCREEN:

“If my guys are behind this they never told me.”

MICHELLE

We have to do this soon…before Secretary Heller hands in his resignation. Please, just let me bring it to them, and then I’ll come back here and do whatever you need.

ON BLACKBERRY SCREEN:

“I can’t let you leave…if I do, Pedro and Alejandro will know I’m working against them.”

Michelle sighs, frustrated.

ON COMPUTER SCREEN:

“Give me your access code, and when I go on to uplink the codes, I’ll find a way to get the footage to Audrey.”

MICHELLE

How? You need her password.

ON COMPUTER SCREEN:

“I’ll figure it out.”

Michelle sighs.

ON BLACKBERRY SCREEN:

“I will get Tony out of this, i promise. But I need you to cooperate.”

MICHELLE

(Resigned, realizing she has no choice)

Alright.

He ties her up as she pretends to resist, tears streaming down her cheeks.

FADE OUT.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

ACT THREE

FADE IN:

INT. PENTAGON - OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY Of DEFENSE

Secretary Heller picks up the phone and calls Cummings.

SPLIT SCREEN

HELLER

I just wanted to let you know, as a courtesy, that I’m going to be taking over the Tony Almeida case for the time being. I’d like to speak to him myself.

CUMMINGS

With all due respect, Mr. Secretary, I don’t think that’s a good idea. The agent interrogating him is one of the best in the field. We need to interrogate him further to determine if this really is his own act to vent his bitterness against the government or whether it’s part of a larger terrorist conspiracy.

HELLER

With all due respect, Walt, I don’t particularly care what you think. Assuming you are confirmed by the Senate, in a few hours, you’ll have authority over the handling of this morning’s incident. But for right now, I’m still the Secretary of Defense, and I will be conducting this investigation as I see fit.

CUMMINGS

Fine!

He slams the phone down.

INT. PENTAGON - OFFICE OF THE CHIEf INFORMATION OFFICER

SAM

Hey Brian. What can I do for you?

BRIAN

Have you seen Michelle?

SAM

No, I just tried calling her and she didn’t answer.

BRIAN

Same here.

SAM

That’s strange. She’s always reachable, and she said she was stepping out for a minute and it’s been close to twenty.

BRIAN

Indeed. It seems like many strange things are happening in our department this morning, sir. About fifteen minutes ago, Zoe Klinger, one of our network analysts, mentioned to a coworker that the Secretary of Defense had called her and requested that a login ID be given to a Skip Taylor, a Pentagon Liason for SI International. She believed that the login requested matched the login responsible for this morning’s attack on the FAA. She went to check the sticky on her desk where she had written the information about whom to give it to, and ten minutes later we found her drugged and tied up on the floor of her office. The sticky was gone, but a scan of her past activity on her computer indicated that it was in fact the same login. When we identify the workstation from which the attack was launched we can run a forensic analysis to see if the finger prints match either the owner of the login ID or the employee with whom it was shared.

SAM

And we know for sure that the login ID was requested before the attack?

BRIAN

Yes sir, Zoe said that she got the call before the attack occurred, and our phone logs confirmed this, as well as the identity of the employee to whom she gave the information. And the fact that she was attacked indicates that someone did not want whatever information she has to be brought forward.

SAM

And you said the Secretary of Defense authorized her to disclose the login information?

BRIAN

Yes, sir. She said she had received a call from the Secretary right before the attack, and the phone logs confirmed this.

SAM

Alright, I’ll speak to the Secretary. If you talk to Michelle tell her I’m looking for her.

BRIAN

Yes, sir.

INT. WHITE HOUSE - OVAL OFFICE

JENNY

Mr. President, I have an update on the situation at the FAA. They got their servers up and running about twenty minutes ago…the virus shut itself down after about fifteen minutes…it appears to have been less malicious than originally thought. No damage to any network infrastructure was incurred, and the attack appears to have just been a disgruntled Pentagon employee acting up, though they’re still investigating any possible links to terrorist organizations.

LOGAN

Do you have a name or any other information on the employee?

JENNY

No, sir. But I was told to assure you that Secretary Cummings is personally handling the situation and the DOD has it under control. They would recommend allowing commercial flights to resume.

LOGAN

Have NSA or Homeland Security weighed in on that?

JENNY

Not that I am aware of, sir. I can find out.

LOGAN

Yes, do that. Anything else?

JENNY

No, sir.

INT. HOLDING ROOM

Secretary Heller enters the room where Tony is being interrogated by Agent Spaulding.

HELLER

Agent Spaulding, thank you very much for your help. You can go back to whatever you were doing before you were called in to help with this case. I will be taking over the questioning for the present time.

SPAULDING

I’m sorry, sir, but Secretary Cummings said not to turn this over to anyone else.

HELLER

Walt Cummings has yet to even be confirmed by the Senate. i am still in charge here for the next four hours, and I would like to question the sus…the witness myself. Now please excuse us.

SPAULDING

Fine!

He storms out. Secretary Heller sits down across from Tony and sighs.

HELLER

Tony, what is going on?

Tony becomes really flustered, trying to figure out what to say.

It is one thing to stonewall a man he despises, it is another to do the same to a man he respects.

TONY

I hate the government. I hate what they did to me, I hate what they did to Jack, and I hate the hypocrisy of the whole system.

It is clear to Secretary Heller that Tony remains unconvinced by his own words.

TONY

Look, Mr. Secretary, I appreciate all that you have done for me, and I want you to know that what I did today has nothing to do with you or anything that’s happened since I started working here.

HELLER

Uh huh. So tell me, how did you create this virus?

TONY

What do you mean, how did I create it? I wrote the code a while ago and executed it this morning.

HELLER

Alright, so tell me a little more about this virus. I’m not a techie but I’ve always been curious about these things. Tell me, how does the virus work? What language did you use to write it? How did you execute it? What vulnerabilities in the system at air traffic control center did it attack? How did you hack in to the system?

TONY

No, I’m not telling you anything. I want immunity first.

HELLER

First tell me about the virus and then I’ll see what I can do about that. I’m running out of time, Tony…you know that Cummings is going to be taking over in a few hours, and he’ll jump at the chance to put you back in prison. So if you want any hope of a different outcome, you had better start cooperating with me. Now tell me how you programmed this virus.

TONY

Alright. I wrote the basic code in C, using Perl for system administration. The goal of the virus was to use a syn-ack command to exploit half-open TCP filters on their system. The attack was designed to last for ten minutes.

HELLER

So what kind of servers does the FAA use, and what vulnerabilities are there that enabled you to do exploit these half-open filters?

TONY

Uh, their servers are way out of date…lacking critical security upgrades…it was easy to hack into. They use AES encryption, which is easy to crack, so I just used a correlation matrix to crack the code and hack in.

HELLER

So you exploited some of the vulnerabilities in Windows NT.

TONY

Yeah, exactly. That thing is an attack waiting to happen.

HELLER

You may be right…you probably know more about this than i do. But Tony, the report I read said that the computers at the air traffic control center use Red Hat Linux.

Tony is silent, trying to figure out how to get out of this. He knows that Secretary Heller is not super tech savvy and were it not for the report, he’d be easy to fool. But he realizes the Secretary is computer literate enough to know the difference between Windows and Linux, and so he just sits there, not knowing what to do.

HELLER

Tony, why would you lie about something like this? I know that you did not program this attack…I don’t think you had anything to do with it. But I can’t for the life of me understand why you would take responsibility for it, unless you were covering for someone else. So I can’t let you go until you tell me everything you know.

TONY

What do you want me to tell you?

HELLER

Who did this? Why? What’s their motive? Did they pay you to take the blame, or were you afraid of some sort of reprisal if you didn’t?

TONY

Mr. Secretary, the honest truth is, the only information i have about this attack is what Michelle told me when I stopped by her office to bring her breakfast about an hour ago, right before two guards grabbed me in the hall near my office and brought me in here in handcuffs. Agent Spaulding started interrogating me, demanding to know who I was working for and at first, he refused to tell me what this was about, and I honestly had no idea that they thought I was responsible for the air traffic attack.

HELLER

So when Agent Spaulding did tell you, from what I understand, you seemed almost relieved, and you jumped to take responsibility for it. Why?

TONY

He…he was beating me over the head and gagging me, sir…he wasn’t going to stop until I confessed to something, whether or not I was guilty.

HELLER

Well, then Agent Spaulding was operating completely outside of DOD protocol for civilian interrogations, and I apologize for his behavior and promise to do what I can to have him investigated in the next few hours. But Tony, I know that you’re a tough guy…I know that you served as a first lieutenant in the Marines, that you were able to resume command of CTU Los Angeles hours after being shot and operated on, and that you survived being taken hostage three years ago. I find it hard to believe that you would confess to a terrorist attack before withstanding a little bit of physical pressure. What else did this agent do or say that made you feel you had no choice but to confess to orchestrating the attack?

Tony’s voice is barely audible, and he sounds like he is about to cry.

TONY

He…he threatened to bring Michelle in here.

HELLER

And? Did he threaten to hurt Michelle in any way?

TONY

No, sir. He just wanted her to watch me be interrogated. He must have done some research into my past or something, because he knew…

At this point, Tony becomes choked up and has to wipe a tear from his eyes

TONY

…because he knew that I couldn’t take having Michelle see me in handcuffs again…he knew I couldn’t put her through it all over again.

Before Heller can say anything, his phone rings.

HELLER

Excuse me.

He steps out into the hall.

HELLER

Hello, Sam…do you have an update on the FAA? Are they sure it was the same login?

SAM (O.S.)

One of our network analysts is pretty sure that you authorized the disclosure of this login to someone named Skip Taylor.

HELLER

Hold on, what was that name again?

SAM (O.S.)

Skip Taylor.

HELLER

Are you sure? Wait a second…she said that I authorized this?

SAM (O.S.)

According to what Brian told me…he said the Secretary of Defense authorized it.

HELLER

I did no such thing…

SAM (O.S.)

Are you sure you would remember?

HELLER

Yes, I would remember…the man it was given to is engaged to my daughter…I would remember if I gave him someone’s login id.

SAM (O.S.)

Could she have meant the incoming Secretary?

HELLER

Yes, that’s possible…a lot of people seem to already think he’s in charge…

CUT TO:

INT. CTU LOS ANGELES

Chloe enters Erin Driscoll’s office, a file and a disk in her hand.

CHLOE

Here’s the information you asked for about Tony Almeida. There’s a man named Jose Rodriguez who is a member of Shining Path and on the Peruvian government’s list of suspected terrorists, though there are some in the Peruvian intelligence community who believe he might actually be an informant. Anyways, Jose’s brother, Miguel, came into the United States illegally several years ago, and he was detained at Terminal Island for writing bad checks and forging immigration documents at the same time Tony was in there.

DRISCOLL

So it’s possible that Tony could have been recruited while he was in prison to assist Shining Path with the air traffic attack and possibly additional attacks?

CHLOE

I guess it’s possible…it just seems so unlikely. I mean, i was pretty critical of what Tony did four years ago…I’m probably the only one who worked with him who thought he deserved to be punished for it…but working with terrorists to attack the country’s air traffic control systems? I’d be really surprised if that were true.

DRISCOLL

Spare me the editorial, Chloe. Now, if this man, Jose Rodriguez, were an informant, wouldn’t the government have a record of that?

CHLOE

Not necessarily. He could be working for another government, or he could be an ordinary citizen who found himself in a position to find out some information and help out. The Peruvian government got an anonymous tip-off right before the bombing in Lima last year, and while Jose Rodriguez is wanted for his involvement in the attack, there are signs that suggest he may have been the one who tipped them off, though thus far Peruvian intelligence has refused to provide further details about these signs.

DRISCOLL

Have you found any evidence of communication between Jose Rodriguez and Tony Almeida?

CHLOE

No. I’m running another scan now to see if anything happened in the past few hours.

DRISCOLL

Do they have any idea where Jose Rodriguez is?

CHLOE

Not currently. He was last seen in Peru a few months ago, but he and his group have gone dark since then…some other members of the group were spotted in Northern Peru at some point last month, and there’s some intelligence to suggest they may have entered the United States recently…a few men who met the description of some of the members of Shining Path were spotted in North Carolina a few weeks ago, but the men had disappeared before anyone could determine if it was them, and none of the descriptions of the people sited matched Jose’s.

DRISCOLL

Okay, I’ll pass this on to DOD. See what else you can do to figure out if that phone call was between Tony and Jose, and call the warden at Terminal Island and see if he can remember if Tony was friendly with Jose’s brother.

CHLOE

Alright, I’ll get right on it.

INT. PENTAGON - CONSOLIDATED SERVER ROOM

Michelle is still tied up with tape on her mouth on the floor near the door to the room. The masked man, who has been tinkering with a computer, walks over to her, points a gun at her head, and picks up her purse. Michelle’s Blackberry BEEPS.

ON BLACKBERRY SCREEN:

Are the disk and your network access card in here?

Michelle nods.

He takes the card and the CD out of her purse, along with some money and credit cards.

He tightens Michelle’s mouth cover and shoves her up against the wall and walks over to a computer.

MICHELLE

(muffled)

You need her password.

The man nods and continues walking over to the computers. Michelle looks confused but shrugs, trying hard not to panic.

fade out.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

ACT FOUR

ACT FOUR

FADE IN:

INT. HOLDING ROOM

Secretary Heller reenters and tosses a set of keys onto the table in front of Tony.

HELLER

Take those things off and come with me to my office.

TONY

What’s going on?

HELLER

I know that you were with Michelle in the hallway and nowhere near a computer when the attack occurred, and I got a call from someone in NetOps that makes it clear to me that you’re being framed. Until you adequately answer the question of why you would confess to something you didn’t do, i can’t just drop the case.

Tony nods.

HELLER

But since you clearly did not execute the attack on the FAa this morning, and you probably had nothing to do with it, I see no reason to treat you like a prisoner.

TONY

Thank you, sir…I really appreciate that.

HELLER

I’m not the one you should be thanking, Tony. I will admit that while I was surprised and disappointed to hear that you were responsible for this morning’s incident, I was prepared to accept that perhaps you’d been embittered by your experiences and wanted to cause trouble. I thought maybe you were acting out in protest of what happened at the meeting yesterday or something. But my daughter knows you better than that. She refused to accept that you would do something like this, and she was right.

TONY

Well, I’ll be sure to thank her as soon as we’re done here, but if you talk to her first, could you tell her I really appreciate her sticking up for me, not just over this but all the time.

HELLER

Of course.

Tony uncuffs himself and follows Secretary Heller out of the room. They enter Heller’s office.

HELLER

Tony, would you do me a favor and lock the door behind you?

Tony does as he is asked, looking slightly bewildered.

HELLER

Have a seat.

He pauses for a moment and glances around before continuing.

HELLER

Tony, a few minutes ago, I got a call from Sam Rothman, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Network Integration and Information. i believe you know him, right?

TONY

Yeah, he’s Michelle’s supervisor. I just saw him this morning.

HELLER

He told me that network services determined that right before the attack, Cummings contacted a network analyst named Zoe Klinger and instructed her to give your login to a liason to the network security contractor. Ms. Klinger mentioned this to a coworker, and went to check if it was in fact the same login id. When her coworkers entered her office ten minutes later they found her tied up and drugged on the floor.

TONY

WHAT? Hold on a sec. Was it just my login the contractor wanted, or was the instruction to give a bunch of logins to the company to check for breaches or something? Or was it just mine?

HELLER

Unfortunately, it appears that way.

TONY

So someone was trying to frame me.

HELLER

That’s what seems to be going on, yes. They located the workstation from which the attack was launched and they already confirmed that your fingerprints did not match the keyboard…they’re analyzing it now to determine if it matches the contractor to whom the information was given. Now Tony, you do know that even if you had nothing to do with this, confessing falsely to an act of terrorism could be prosecuted as impeding the search, don’t you?

Tony looks down.

TONY

Yes, I understand that, sir.

HELLER

However, assuming we can verify that you were in fact intimidated by Agent Spaulding and were not lying to cover for anyone who was involved, I am prepared to look the other way on that point, but I need you to do a few things for me in return.

TONY

Sure, what do you need me to do?

HELLER

First, I need you to work with me to figure out why Cummings requested that your information be shared, and if in fact this is connected to the attack, whether he knew what the login was going to be used for. I need you to think back real hard and think of any way that your paths might have crossed before.

Tony nods.

HELLER

Second, I need you to answer some questions about some information we just got from CTU Los Angeles cross referencing your personnel file with members of a terrorist group that is believed to be planning some form of an attack on a chemical weapons facility in Maryland and possibly responsible for this morning’s incident.

TONY

Alright, I can do that.

HELLER

Finally, what I am asking you to do falls outside of the job description, and I apologize for putting this on you.

TONY

What do you need me to do?

HELLER

It appears that the login ID was given to Skip, and that he may have been the one to launch the attack using your login.

TONY

Skip as in Audrey’s fiancee Skip?

HELLER

Yes. It hasn’t been confirmed…I just hope it’s a mistake…you know what she’s been through…I was so happy when she met Skip…she seemed happy with him, and I think in my anxiousness to see her find someone after what happened three years ago, I ignored the fact that I had always gotten a funny vibe from him…something never seemed quite right.

TONY

I know what you mean…he always acted suspicious of me. i didn’t think too much of it because I’m pretty used to people acting suspicious if they know my history. Whenever he’d come into Audrey’s office and I was there talking to her, he’d act really weird, like he thought there was something going on between us. He would find an excuse to keep stopping back in…and I get the sense that he acts like Audrey’s babysitter a lot. I figured he was just a possessive boyfriend, but maybe there’s something else going on here.

HELLER

You may be right, but let’s not jump to conclusions. Until we determine if his fingerprints match the keyboard, I don’t want Audrey to know anything about this. I just don’t have the heart…

TONY

You don’t have the heart to tell her, so you want me to do it, right? Is that what you meant when you mentioned doing something that falls outside the job description?

HELLER

It’s not an order, Tony. I realize that it came out as an ultimatum before and that’s not how I meant it. But I know that you have been in the same situation, and if you could talk to her, I’d really appreciate it…she’s going to be devastated, and somehow I feel like she’d take it better from you than anyone else.

TONY

Alright. But let’s wait until we’re sure.

HELLER

Definitely.

TONY

Mr. Secretary, did you say that Cummings authorized the woman in NetOps to give my login info to Skip?

HELLER

I believe that’s what happened. Sam originally thought i had…the people in NetOps just said ‘the Secretary of Defense’ and since i know I didn’t authorize it, they must have been referring to Cummings, unless someone called pretending to be me.

TONY

Mr. Secretary, if Cummings is involved in this somehow, we need to do something about this…we can’t just let this guy take office if he might be involved in some sort of a conspiracy.

HELLER

You’re right, Tony, but I am not sure what we can do about it…the Senate is about to confirm him if they haven’t already.

TONY

Ask the Senate Majority Leader to postpone the vote. Shut down the Capitol if you have to…we have to do something.

HELLER

And what makes you so sure Cummings is involved with this? Skip could have lied to him about why he needed your login ID.

TONY

Mr. Secretary, three years ago, right before Jack died, I was with him in the locker room at CTU and he was telling me that he was going to be handed over to the Chinese…he was prepared to go, prepared to accept it. Then he got a phone call, I think it came from President Palmer, warning him not to turn himself in…I didn’t catch everything, but I am pretty sure he said that the Secret Service Agent had been authorized to kill him, and I am pretty sure I heard Cummings’ name mentioned somewhere in the conversation. That’s why Jack started shooting at Agent Spaulding…if I heard the conversation correctly, Spaulding had orders to get rid of him.

HELLER

So you think he could have authorized the use of your login ID this morning…

TONY

To get me out of the way.

HELLER

When I spoke to Bill Buchanan at CTU, he told me that Jack had tried to escape and then opened fire on the Secret Service agent who was supposed to take him into custody, and that’s how he was shot and killed. Are you telling me that’s not true?

TONY

Not entirely, sir. What Bill doesn’t know is that right before all that went down, Jack got a call warning him that the Secret Service agent had orders to take him out…that’s why he opened fire. He was willing to hand himself over until he found out that Cummings had ordered him killed.

HELLER

Geez. Are you sure about that?

TONY

I guess there’s no way to be certain, but I’m pretty confident about what I heard.

HELLER

This all sounds very speculative, Tony. Even if Cummings was responsible for Jack’s death, how would he know that you overheard the conversation?

TONY

Several ways. I get the sense that Cummings has worked with Agent Spaulding for a long time, and Spaulding was the one who was sent to kill Jack. I insisted on going with Spaulding to look for Jack when Jack tried to escape…I was there when Spaulding killed him. He could have recognized me, or they could have determined from the security cameras at CTU that I was there with Jack when he got the phone call.

HELLER

Alright, I’ll call the Senate Majority Leader and see if he’ll postpone the vote…just the fact that he authorized the sharing of your login information without notifying you and as far as I know, without a warrant or a legitimate national security concern, is questionable enough to warrant a delay of the vote, at least in my opinion. In the meantime, can you call Brian at NetOps to see if they’ve completed the forensic analysis?

TONY

Um, Mr. Secretary? Would it be alright if I just call Michelle real quick first…she called when Spaulding was interrogating me and he started threatening her and I just want to let her know I’m okay. She probably knows what’s going on with the forensics search anyway.

HELLER

You’re welcome to try, Tony, but you may not be able to reach her.

TONY

Why wouldn’t I be able to reach her?

HELLER

Tony, I don’t want you to panic…this is probably nothing…but nobody’s been able to get a hold of her for the last 45 minutes.

TONY

What do you mean nobody can find her? Did something happen to her?

HELLER

We don’t know…I asked PFPA to do a scan of their cameras to try to locate her…she’s probably fine…she was supposed to meet Audrey to give her the footage from the security cameras that proved that you were not at a computer when the attack was launched, but Audrey couldn’t find her and neither could the people she works with.

TONY

Well, how did you know I wasn’t near a computer then?

HELLER

Audrey told me Michelle had requested that footage, so I just called PFPA and asked them to send it to my screen. Tony, I know you’re worried, but I need you to stay calm. Michelle’s boss thinks she might have gone to the Consolidated Server Room in the basement of the Army wing…cell phone reception is pretty bad down there. We have security forces scanning their cameras, and if we need to we’ll do have them search the building on foot. But I need you to stay focused and work with me right now…can you do that?

TONY

Yeah, alright.

Secretary Heller’s office phone rings.

HELLER

Yeah?

OTHER END

Mr. Secretary, I have Erin Driscoll from CTU Los Angeles on the phone for you…she says it’s urgent.

HELLER

Alright, patch her through.

INT. WHITE HOUSE

President Logan dials a number from the phone in his office.

LOGAN

Walt, what’s going on over there?

A split screen shows Logan talking to Cummings.

CUMMINGS

Unfortunately, Mr. President, I don’t have much to report. Heller’s decided to reassert his authority for the final few hours of his term as Secretary of Defense, and frankly, sir, I’m a bit worried about his judgment in handling this situation.

LOGAN

What do you mean?

CUMMINGS

Mr. President, three years ago, when Secretary Heller’s daughter was kidnapped, a rogue CTU agent decided to operate out of protocol and call a former agent who had been discharged after being convicted of treason for aiding and abetting a terrorist and compromising a hostage negotiation. When his daughter was rescued, Heller must have felt indebted to this man and decided to hire him as a special assistant despite his record. Now it looks like this man is responsible for the attack on the air traffic control center, and Heller is impeding the investigation, probably to hide his own embarrassment.

LOGAN

I don’t understand. This guy was convicted of treason and he’s working for the Department of Defense? Why is he not in jail?

CUMMINGS

He was lucky enough to have friends in high places and get of one of Palmer’s 99th hour pardons. Probably some back room deal.

LOGAN

I see. But the air traffic control center is up and running again, right?

CUMMINGS

Yes.

LOGAN

Alright, well, just let Jim block the investigation…his term expires at noon today, and after that you can go about your business. Keep me up to date, and let me know immediately if there’s trouble in Herndon or anywhere else.

CUMMINGS

Mr. President, with all due respect, we may not have the luxury of waiting until noon. The servers at the air traffic control center are up and running, but until we can properly question the suspect, we don’t know how much data may have been exposed or compromised during the attack, or what other attacks might be in store.

LOGAN

So what are you suggesting?

CUMMINGS

Mr. President, I think you might have to go above Heller and sign a letter authorizing Defense Security Services to take Tony Almeida into custody for further questioning.

LOGAN

Alright, send it over, and I’ll have a look.

CUMMINGS

Thank you, Mr. President

Logan hangs up and turns to MIKE NOVICK.

LOGAN

Mike, how is it that a man who was convicted of treason against the United States could get a security clearance to work in a high level staff position at DOD?

MIKE

Is his name Tony Almeida?

LOGAN

Yes, I think that’s the name Walt gave me…why, do you know him?

MIKE

Yeah, I think so. I don’t remember exactly what happened, but I’m pretty certain there’s a good explanation for why this man was granted clearance to work at DOD.

Logan sighs, exasperated.

MIKE

Mr. President, did I hear you say something about signing something for Walt authorizing him to go above Jim’s head on this?

LOGAN

Yes, I did. Mike, we don’t know how much of the air traffic data has been compromised…the suspect needs to be questioned now, and Jim is preventing that from happening.

MIKE

Mr. President, with all due respect, I think you should talk to Jim before you sign anything. I can’t quite put a finger on it, but something tells me there may be more to this story than what Walt’s telling you. Have you spoken to David since Walt told you about the call from the Chinese foreign secretary this morning?

LOGAN

No, he’s still on a plane that’s G d knows where, because we can’t allow any flights to land until we can confirm that the air traffic data is secure and accurate.

MIKE

Alright. Why don’t you give Jim a call and find out what his deal is…I’ll make a few phone calls to see if I can find out anything else. If we can’t get any more information, you can authorize Walt to have Tony Almeida taken into custody for questioning.

LOGAN

Fine.

INT. OSD

Secretary Heller is still on the phone with Erin Driscoll.

HELLER

Erin, with all due respect, that sounds extremely preposterous. There have been several indications on this end that he’s being framed or set up for something…was the guy’s brother being monitored while he was in prison? Are you sure? Did you check the digital backup? Alright, I’ll talk to him. See what else your people can find on this guy Rodriguez.

Secretary Heller hangs up the phone and turns to Tony.

TONY

So what did I do this time?

HELLER

Tony, when you were in prison, there was an inmate named Miguel Rodriguez, was there not?

TONY

Um, I’m not sure…there might have been…the name sounds familiar.

HELLER

Tony, we don’t have much time…I need you to be straight up and tell me the truth.

TONY

Honestly, sir, I don’t remember. It’s…it’s a period of my life I’ve tried hard to block out. Why? What did Driscoll say?

HELLER

She said that this guy Miguel has a brother, Jose, who is believed to be responsible for several terrorist attacks in Peru, and his group, Shining Path, is believed to be responsible for this morning’s attack. a network analyst named Chloe O’Brien discovered a trail of communications between you and Jose Rodriguez, including one phone call just this morning.

TONY

I don’t have any idea what you’re…wait, did you say one of the alleged calls was this morning?

HELLER

Yes, according to what CTU Los Angeles uncovered.

TONY

Mr. Secretary, this is probably going to sound really strange, but this morning I got a phone call from a number with caller Id blocked, and when I picked it up, I got a weird series of beeps. I don’t know anything about Miguel Rodriguez or his brother, but I know that there’s something weird going on with my phone, and maybe this has something to do with it. I know, this probably sounds crazy, and you probably don’t believe me…

HELLER

Tony, I don’t know what to believe. I don’t think you’re a terrorist, nor do I think you’re helping terrorists…but the fact that you would confess to a terrorist attack you had nothing to do with leads me to believe that you know something. First of all, did you talk to Brian from NetOps?

TONY

Yes, sir, I did. He said that the keyboard matched Skip’s fingerprints. He also said they still have no idea where Michelle is.

Heller sighs.

HELLER

Alright, we’re going to have to have him brought in for questioning…I’ll call PFPA now, and I’ll check if they found Michelle, though I instructed them to get back to me as soon as they did…in the meantime,

He is interrupted when he notices Audrey standing in the lobby area of the office.

HELLER

(nervously)

Hey Audrey…how long have you been standing there?

AUDREY

Just for a minute…I just wanted to tell you that I got the footage from the security cameras…what’s going on?

HELLER

We’re trying to figure out the same thing.

TONY

So you found Michelle? She gave you the footage?

AUDREY

Not exactly. Actually, something really weird happened…the footage just kind of appeared on a new folder on my desktop that I didn’t recognize.

HELLER

So she sent the file to your system?

AUDREY

I guess, but she would have needed my password for that. She could have gotten it from NetOps, but nobody around there has seen her or heard from her for almost an hour, and there are no records of anyone requesting my password.

HELLER

Did you share your password with anyone?

AUDREY

No, I never told anyone…except…I mean, no, I never told anyone my password…at least, not anyone who’s still alive.

HELLER

Not even Skip?

AUDREY

No, why? Did I hear you say something about his fingerprints matching a keyboard?

Secretary Heller glances anxiously at Tony.

AUDREY

Dad, what’s going on?

TONY

Have a seat.

Before Tony can explain, the phone rings again.

HELLER

Hello?

OTHER END

Please hold for the President.

FADE OUT.

COMMERCIAL BREAK

ACT FIVE

FADE IN:

INT. WHITE HOUSE - OVAL OFFICE

LOGAN

(into phone)

Alright, you have ten minutes, and if you haven’t gotten anything out of him by then, I’m having him turned over to the FBI for questioning.

President Logan slams the phone down and turns to Mike, who just reentered the room.

LOGAN

Did you find out anything?

MIKE

Yeah, I called a few sources who were close to President Palmer when he was in office, and apparently, there’s a little more to Tony Almeida’s story than what Walt told you. Walt was correct that Tony Almeida was convicted of treason for helping a terrorist to escape and compromising a hostage negotiation, but he left out the fact that terrorists had kidnapped his wife, who was also a federal agent at CTU, and were threatening to kill her if he refused to comply with their demands.

LOGAN

Yeah, that’s what Jim just told me…he also claims that there are signs that this guy is being framed for the attack.

MIKE

That would make sense.

LOGAN

Why? What else did you find out?

MIKE

Apparently, Palmer made the decision to pardon Tony Almeida after hearing a heart-felt plea from someone he deeply trusted and respected, a federal agent at CTU Los Angeles named Jack Bauer.

LOGAN

So you think this has something to do with the call from the Chinese Foreign Secretary this morning?

MIKE

I think it’s very possible, given what we know about the air traffic attack. I think someone might have orchestrated the attack and framed Tony Almeida for it in order to force him to reveal where Jack Bauer is, and i think he took responsibility for the attack in hopes of diverting attention from the real secret.

LOGAN

So now what are we supposed to do?

MIKE

For right now, not much. Have Langley confirm the authenticity of the call from the Chinese foreign secretary. Wait until David Palmer gets here…I think he might have some more information that could help us. Until we confirm that Jack Bauer is alive and that the Chinese are aware of it, the last thing we want to do is take any action that could alert the Chinese to the situation.

LOGAN

What about Tony Almeida? Shouldn’t we have him questioned by the FBI or Secret Service?

MIKE

Mr. President, I’m not so sure that’s the right move.

LOGAN

What do you mean?

MIKE

While I was waiting to hear back from Palmer’s former deputy chief of staff, I had a friend do some research on Tony Almeida.

LOGAN

And? What did you find?

MIKE

He spent just over three months in prison, and when he got out, he couldn’t find a job, started drinking, he and his wife were divorced for a brief period…then the day of the nuclear missile threat, Jack Bauer called him up when he needed help and CTU Los Angeles had been compromised. The next day, Heller offered him Bauer’s old job as a special assistant and with it the second chance he never thought he’d get.

LOGAN

What’s your point?

MIKE

My point is, if there’s anyone in the government Tony Almeida trusts, it’s Jim Heller. I think Jim might have a better chance of getting information out of him than anyone else. If my suspicions are correct, then in all likelihood, he doesn’t have any useful information about the attack on the FAA, so having him in custody won’t help to confirm the integrity of the air traffic data.

Logan sighs, clearly irritated at the situation.

MIKE

Mr. President, the best thing you can do for this country right now is to go out there for the inauguration ceremonies as planned, and don’t do anything to tip off the Chinese or the American people that anything might be wrong.

LOGAN

Alright, I’ll give Jim a call.

MIKE

Not yet. Hold off for ten minutes like you said. See what he can get on his own.

LOGAN

Alright.

INT. OSD - 08:55:57

Tony and Audrey are sitting in the lobby area of the Secretary’s office, while Secretary Heller is talking to the president at his desk, having motioned Tony and Audrey to step out and shut the door.

AUDREY

There’s got to be some mistake…whoever tried to frame you is probably trying to frame Skip.

TONY

That could be. But Cummings requested my login id for him right before the attack, and his fingerprints were on the workstation that was used to trigger it. We’re not going to jump to conclusions, but he’s going to have to be questioned. Look, Audrey, I’m really sorry to have to tell you this…believe me, it’s the last thing I wanted to have to do.

AUDREY

You…you really think Skip did this?

TONY

I was as shocked as you are, trust me. But right now all signs point to him…and I know, a half hour ago all signs pointed to me, and i have you to thank for the truth coming out. Let’s just see what Skip has to say. Maybe this is a misunderstanding. I really hope it is, Audrey.

She nods, trying hard not to cry.

TONY

Something fishy is going on here…I think we might need to tell your dad the truth about what we know.

AUDREY

I’ve been debating that all morning. I trust my dad, but he has a duty to the president and to the American people…if we tell him about Jose, he’s going to have to pass it on.

HELLER

Tell me what about Jose?

Tony and Audrey look at each other nervously

HELLER

Audrey? What do you know about Jose Rodriguez? Is this what you couldn’t tell me before?

Audrey nods feebly, trying to keep from crying.

INT. CTU LOS ANGELES - TECH 1 - 5:57:05
LOCAL TIME

Chloe is trying to monitor Pedro and Alejandro when Erin Driscoll walks in and startles her.

DRISCOLL

Chloe, what are you doing?

CHLOE

I’m, um, I’m trying to pick up a thread on two members of Shining Path.

DRISCOLL

With headphones on?

CHLOE

I’m trying to unscramble the audio on a phone conversation between two members.

DRISCOLL

I thought we didn’t know where they were.

CHLOE

This just came in from Langley…Sarah Gavin works there now, and she recommended that they send this to me because she knew I had extensive experience decoding audio.

DRISCOLL

Mmm hmm. So have you gotten anything?

CHLOE

Not yet. I’m waiting for the algorithm to finish.

DRISCOLL

How long will that take?

CHLOE

About fifteen minutes.

DRISCOLL

Alright. Let me know as soon as it’s finished.

CHLOE

Okay, I will.

Erin walks back to her office, looking a bit puzzled, and picks up her phone.

DRISCOLL

Evan, can you put a filter on Chloe O’Brien’s system without her knowing it? No, send it right to my screen. Thank you.

INT. OSD - 08:59:02

HELLER

Kids, we’re running out of time. If one of you doesn’t tell me what’s going on in the next few minutes, the president is going to have Tony turned over to the FBI for questioning, and the whole thing will be out of my hands. So I need you to tell me everything you know about Jose Rodriguez now.

TONY

Mr. Secretary, Jose Rodriguez is an undercover informant who’s managed to infiltrate Shining Path. I worked with him four years ago when Jack Bauer, Gael Ortega and I planned a sting operation in Mexico in hopes of stopping the sale of the Cordilla virus to terrorists. Jose helped us arrange the transaction. I told Audrey about it this morning after she warned me about a phone conversation she overheard between you and Cummings…she didn’t know anything before that or have anything to do with this.

HELLER

So why don’t we have a record of him?

TONY

At the time, he operated under a different name, Diego Santorella. He actually works for the Mexican government. He’s a Mexican citizen.

HELLER

Then how do you know what he’s up to now, Tony? How would you know about his new identity?

TONY

He called me about three years ago, sir. He asked me to keep our conversation a secret, because he did not trust the people at Langley he was told to communicate with and wanted a backup filter to channel information to in the event that Langley became compromised.

HELLER

So has he channeled any information to you?

TONY

No, sir…just that one phone call, where he told me he was going undercover with Shining Path.

HELLER

This doesn’t make sense, Tony. If he were working with Langley, they’d have a record of him…we’ve already checked all of our intelligence agencies, and nobody has him on record as an informant. While you were in prison, Jack Bauer was fully debriefed and investigated over the sting operation you guys planned, and he revealed all of his contacts here and in Mexico. Having reviewed both your personnel file and Jack’s upon hiring the two of you, I’m pretty familiar with the Mexico mission, and I have read nothing about anyone named Diego Santorella.

The phone rings again.

HELLER

Tony, we’re out of time. I am going to give you one more chance - if Jose Rodriguez is an undercover agent, how come we have no record of him?

Tony is silent, struggling with what to do.

He looks desperately at Audrey, and sees her go white in the face as she glances at the doorway.

Tony and Secretary Heller turn to see what she is staring at, and both are shocked by what they see and hear next.

JACK

Because, Mr. Secretary, he’s been presumed dead for the past three years.

FADE OUT.

END OF SHOW