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INT. CTU - MAIN FLOOR - CHLOE’S STATION

Jack approaches and glances around before leaning in to speak to Chloe.

JACK

Are you sure the recording was authentic?

CHLOE

As sure as I was when you asked me less than two minutes ago. The frequencies matched.

Jack sighs, frustrated.

CHLOE

(exasperated)

Look, Jack, after we recover the nerve gas and stop the terrorist threat we can go to a bar and lament about what it’s like to realize you’ve been sleeping with the enemy and how you seem to be a magnet for double agents but right now I’m kind of busy.

JACK

(whispering urgently)

Chloe, listen to me. Something’s not right here, and I don’t know what it is, but I have a feeling there’s more to what’s going on than meets the eye.

CHLOE

Even if you’re right, what can we do about it? Nobody’s going to take you seriously.

Jack sighs.

JACK

Did you find anything on Matt Bryant?

CHLOE

No, I forwarded it to CTU DC.

JACK

Damn it, Chloe. I wish you hadn’t done that.

CHLOE

I didn’t have a choice. Karen was standing right over me.

JACK

Fine. Have you found anything on her laptop?

CHLOE

No, not yet. If she is guilty she covered her tracks.

JACK

Fine. Look through it again and see if you can find anything relating to a $3 million transaction.

Chloe hesitates. Jack speaks with a mixture of urgency and irritation.

JACK

Chloe, if she’s not guilty then someone wants us to think she is. We have to find out who that is before they strike again. Please, Chloe…I’m sorry to keep asking you to break protocol but right now I don’t know who else I can trust.

CHLOE

Fine, I’ll do it. But this is the last time I’m getting roped
into one of your little schemes.

JACK

Understood.

Jack is walking back to the holding room when Bill stops him.

BILL

Jack, what’s going on? Why aren’t you interrogating her?

JACK

I’m on my way back there to talk to her now, but I don’t think she knows anything besides what she already told us.

BILL

I know how hard this must be for you, but you can’t allow your emotions to interfere right now.

JACK

(firmly)

I’m not.

BILL

I don’t want to believe Audrey’s involved with
this any more than you do but you heard what I heard.

JACK

All I heard was a snippet of a conversation that could have easily been altered or taken out of context.

BILL

We’ve reviewed the audio feed several times, Jack. There’s nothing to suggest that it was altered.

JACK

Have they pulled her phone logs from DOD?

BILL

No. I suggested that, but it was rejected by Karen and Miles. They feel it’s best to keep this investigation internal for the time being. They don’t want her father interfering.

JACK

(in disbelief)

So you’re saying they haven’t even investigated any of her activity at DOD?

BILL

Not for the time being.

JACK

That doesn’t make any sense, Bill. This whole picture doesn’t make any sense.

BILL

What do you mean?

JACK

Audrey inherited $7.5 million when Paul died. From what Chloe told me she gave a lot of that to his mother and to the San Gabriel relief effort. Why would she give away millions of dollars and then turn around and sell classified documents to terrorists?

BILL

I don’t know…maybe there was some other motive.

JACK

Bill, please, listen to me. If I thought Audrey was involved I would not hesitate to use every method necessary to get this information out of her. But I know her. I know her better than anyone else here and I know that she gets nightmares from violent movies and that was before she was abducted. I know that she’s incredibly self conscious and worries about how everything she does will reflect on her father. And I know that she’s one of the most sensitive people I have ever met and I don’t believe she would ever intentionally harm a fly, let alone thousands of Americans. I know that this all sounds speculative, but I think I have a track record of pretty good instincts about these things, and my gut tells me there’s something else going on here.

Bill sighs.

JACK

Please, just let me take charge of this for a little while and see what I can find.

BILL

What do you need?

JACK

I need you to call CTU DC and make sure they run everything they find on Matthew Bryant through us. And I need you to call DOD and get her phone logs and the recording of the full conversation.

BILL

Alright, I’ll see what I can do but Homeland Security’s got us on a tight leash. I don’t know how much longer I can put them off.

JACK

Then hurry.

Jack hears Chloe calling him from across the room.

CHLOE (O.C.)

Jack, I found something.

Jack hurries over to her station.

CHLOE

I don’t know if this means anything, but I found something on her laptop that she had open a few weeks ago, around the same time as the phone call we have on record.

JACK

What is it?

CHLOE

A memo from the Chief Financial Officer at DOD regarding the interagency budget struggle.

JACK

What’s that have to do with anything?

CHLOE

Look here.

She adjusts the screen so he can see it.

CHLOE

It says here that Homeland Security was requesting $5 million for security upgrades to a natural gas facility in Santa Clarita. It looks like there was an interagency struggle over the amount, and this memo from the CFO urges her to hold firm in her meeting with DHS on capping the allocation at $3 million.

JACK

So you think that’s what the phone call could have been about.

CHLOE

Maybe.

JACK

Is the memo from the CFO directly?

CHLOE

Yeah, but his assistant’s name is Polina Zhivalyuk…she’s a naturalized citizen from Russia. Audrey could have easily thought that’s who she was talking to.

JACK

Alright. Get a voice sample for the CFO’s assistant to see how similar it is to Collette’s, and find out from Langley if there’s been any chatter regarding the Santa Clarita facility.

cut to:

CTU - CONFERENCE ROOM

Bill is sitting with Karen Hayes at the table when Curtis comes in.

BILL

What’s going on?

CURTIS

The Secretary of Defense is on the phone…he wants to talk
to Audrey.

Bill and Karen look at each other, unsure what to do.

BILL

How do you want to handle this?

KAREN

Curtis, what did you tell him?

CURTIS

I didn’t tell him anything. To be honest, I’m not sure he knows what’s going on. He just said she wasn’t answering her cell phone.

KAREN

Alright, I’ll handle this.

Curtis presses a button on the phone to transfer the call.

KAREN

Mr. Secretary, this is Karen Hayes.

HELLER (O.S.)

Hi, Karen…I’ve been trying to reach my daughter for the last half hour. Is she still at CTU?

KAREN

Yes, sir.

HELLER (O.S.)

Can I talk to her?

KAREN

I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible right now.

HELLER (O.S.)

(impatiently)

Why not?

KAREN

There was an incident this morning that’s being investigated.

HELLER (O.S.)

What kind of an incident?

KAREN

Jack Bauer escaped custody to follow up on a lead, and Audrey along with several CTU employees broke protocol to help him.

HELLER (O.S.)

Why the hell are you wasting time investigating this now?

KAREN

It’s standard procedure…in light of what we know now I’m confident she’ll be cleared…I’ll have her call you as soon as she’s done answering questions…

Bill turns to Curtis.

BILL

Go update Jack.

Curtis nods.

cut to:

CTU HOLDING ROOM

AUDREY

I told you. I talked to a woman with a Russian accent a few weeks ago about budget negotiations…I thought she worked for the CFO.

JACK

I know. And that part of your story checks out but the rest of it doesn’t.

AUDREY

(nervously)

What do you mean?

JACK

CTU DC brought Matthew Bryant into custody. They gave him a polygraph and the results supported his contention that he never went inside your house. The time the schematic was sent from your Blackberry matches what you told me but the date doesn’t match the date he bought the Les Mis tickets for.

Audrey sighs and looks away.

JACK

Audrey, listen to me. I don’t want to believe that you had anything to do with what’s going on, but it’s obvious that you’re hiding something, and whatever it is, you have got to start talking unless you want the blood of thousands of lives on your hands!

Audrey trembles, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Jack’s tone softens slightly.

JACK

If you did something unknowingly I can get you immunity but you’ve got to tell us everything.

Audrey is about to say something when Jack’s phone rings.

JACK

Excuse me.

He steps out into the hall.

JACK

(into phone)

This is Bauer.

HELLER (O.S.)

Jack, this is Jim Heller.

Jack is caught off-guard and becomes a little flustered.

JACK

Mr. Secretary. What can I do for you?

HELLER (O.S.)

What’s going on with my daughter?

JACK

She broke protocol earlier to help me follow up on a lead. Homeland Security has her answering a few questions.

SPLIT SCREEN

HELLER

Yeah, yeah, that’s the line those clowns from Homeland gave me. What’s really going on with her, Jack?

Jack glances around to make sure nobody is listening, then speaks quietly into the phone.

JACK

A mercenary for the terrorists identified Audrey as her contact inside DOD…she claims Audrey sold her the schematic of the next target.

HELLER

WHAT?

He sighs.

HELLER

Is that all they have? Just this mercenary’s word?

JACK

No, sir. There are other links, but I can’t go into detail.

HELLER

Jack, she had nothing to do with this. Whatever’s going on is a setup.

JACK

Mr. Secretary, I don’t want to believe that she’s involved any more than you do, but right now, all signs point in her direction, and the explanations she’s given us haven’t all checked out. I can’t believe that she would sell classified information to terrorists, but there’s obviously something she’s not telling us. If you know what that is, the best thing you
can do for her is to tell me everything you know now.

Heller sighs heavily.

HELLER

I was afraid of this happening. Walt set her up to take the fall for this.

JACK

Walt Cummings?

HELLER

Yeah. A couple months ago I called him early one morning to go over a threat assessment and she answered his phone by accident…I didn’t want to embarrass her so I told her I must have called her by mistake.

JACK

Walt Cummings was married…

HELLER

He and his wife were separated for a while. I don’t think he and Audrey were involved for long but it must have been long enough for her to unknowingly get her fingerprints all over everything.

JACK

So that must be what she didn’t want to tell me.

HELLER

Yeah, it’s part of it. The other part she doesn’t even know.

JACK

What do you mean?

Heller sighs.

HELLER

Jack, what I’m about to tell you needs to stay between you and me for the time being.

JACK

Sir, I can’t promise…

HELLER

Jack, it’s the only way I can give you this information…

Jack sighs, trying to figure out what to do. He glances in at Audrey, who is sitting in the holding room looking outside but turns away quickly when he looks in, unable to look him in the eye.

JACK

Alright, go ahead.

HELLER

The other day, one of my senior staff came to me with the suspicion that something was going on between Walt Cummings and a band of Russian terrorists…a source at DIA came to him after noticing a string of communications. So I confronted Walt about it, and he said that what he was doing was for the good of the country, and when I acted suspicious, he assured me that Audrey had nothing to do with whatever he was doing, but that if I went to the president, he was all setup to make it look like she did.

JACK

Mr. Secretary, are you telling me you knew what was going to happen today and you didn’t say anything?

HELLER

Not exactly, Jack. I didn’t know any of the details, just that Walt was up to something…I certainly had no idea that they were planning to assassinate David Palmer or any of the people who helped you escape, if that’s what you’re wondering.

JACK

Did you know I was alive?

HELLER

I’ve known that for a while. When I heard about what happened to you, I was angry, and I wasn’t satisfied with the explanation they gave me about what happened, so I probed deeper into it. As soon as I figured it out I stopped asking questions, because I knew that the more they looked into it the greater chance your cover would be blown, but I may have already asked too many questions by that point.

Jack sighs.

HELLER

I didn’t tell Audrey, if that’s what you want to know.

JACK

Mr. Secretary, do you have any kind of a record of the conversation between yourself and Walt Cummings in which he threatened to connect Audrey to the plot if you went to the president?

HELLER

I don’t think so…unless he had some kind of recording device, but I’m not sure why it would be in his interest to do that.

JACK

And I take it there were no other witnesses?

HELLER

No. My assistant who came to me with the information can vouch for that part of what I just told you, but he doesn’t know about Cummings’ threat. I know it’s asking a lot given the circumstances but you’re going to have to trust me for the time being.

JACK

Listen, sir, I do trust you, and I know that Audrey didn’t deliberately do anything that could cause any harm, but until we have more concrete evidence we’re going to have to keep her in custody, and if what you say is true, she probably knows a lot more than she thinks she does, and we’re going to have to keep questioning her until we can connect all the dots.

HELLER

(regretfully)

I know. Listen, Jack, can you put her on the phone for a minute? I know it’s against protocol but I just want to see how she’s holding up…she was pretty shook up when I talked to her after all that came out about Cummings and I’m worried about her.

Jack sighs as he contemplates his former boss’ request.

JACK

I’m going to have to listen in on the call.

HELLER

Understood.

Jack goes back into the holding room and hooks an earpiece up
to the phone for himself, then hands the phone to Audrey.

JACK

Your father wants to talk to you.

Audrey takes the phone and takes a deep breath, trying to
sound as together as possible so her father won’t worry.

AUDREY

Dad, it’s me.

HELLER

Audie, are you okay?

AUDREY

(wiping her eyes)

Yeah, I’m fine.

HELLER

Did anybody hurt you?

Audrey glances at Jack, who looks away tensely.

AUDREY

No. They just brought me into holding to answer some questions.

HELLER

Listen, sweetie, this is a misunderstanding and it’s going to get cleared up, but I want you to tell them everything you know that might help them stop these terrorists…you probably know a lot more than you realize.

AUDREY

I know. I understand.

HELLER

I’m trying to get on a flight to LA right now…commercial flights are still grounded but I may be able to get on a military chopper. I’ll be there as soon as I can, alright?

AUDREY

Yeah.

HELLER

I love you, sweetheart.

AUDREY

(fighting tears)

I love you too, Dad.

HELLER

Jack, are you still on?

Audrey hands the phone back to him.

JACK

Yes, sir, I’m here.

HELLER

Can you step outside the room?

JACK

Yeah, hold on.

He goes back out into the observing area.

HELLER

I need you to find a way to question her without anyone else listening.

JACK

I don’t understand…you’re saying not to have someone monitoring and checking up the details?

HELLER

For the time being, no.

JACK

With all due respect, I know it’s going to be uncomfortable for her to have to talk about all this with everyone listening, but given the circumstances, we don’t have time to do it any other way.

HELLER

Jack, that’s not why I’m asking you to keep it between us. And it’s not because I’m trying to protect myself…as soon as this crisis is over I will hand in my resignation. But I have a feeling that Cummings wasn’t the only one inside the government who was involved with this, and right now, you’re the only person I know I can trust.

JACK

I don’t understand…what makes you think that Cummings wasn’t acting alone with the contacts he’s already disclosed?

HELLER

I can’t say just yet…I have no idea who else was involved, but Walt wouldn’t have been able to get that schematic without going through someone else…I’m going to see what I can find out and I’ll call you back. Until then, don’t let anyone else in on what I told you.

fade out.

COMMERCIAL BREAK