24 Declassified: Chaos Theory/1:00am-2:00am

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 1 A.M. AND 2 A.M. PACIFIC STANDARD TIME.

1:00am PST

CTU Headquarters, Los Angeles

Tony Almeida calls Seth Ludonowski downstairs and asks him to track credit card receipts originating from the Little Java Café, explaining that he needs to find an alias for Encep Sungkar. Seth cheerfully agrees.

1:02am PST

Los Angeles

Jack Bauer and Emil Ramirez depart the thrift store and make their way through the alleys and sidestreets, attempting to keep their movements as random as possible to avoid interception by the police. In a residential neighborhood, Jack locates a Nissan Maxima with a parking permit hanging from the mirror, one that the owner won't miss until they wake up the next morning. He grabs a rock from a nearby lawn and heaves it through the backseat window, ignoring the alarm, and quickly manages to hot-wire the ignition. The two of them drive away, and a block away, pass by a police cruiser heading in the opposite direction.

1:14am PST

UCLA Medical Center

Megan Wallen, a lab tech, spins around in her chair, trying to keep herself distracted during the long night shift. Usually she got through the nights trading instant messages with her friends Tim and Martina, but both of them are busy tonight, and she doesn't feel like working on homework. Suddenly, the phone rings, and somebody at the security desk informs her that there's a visitor with balloons asking to speak to her downstairs. Confused, she agrees to head down.

As she leaves the lab, an intruder quietly enters the room and approaches the counter where Megan was working. The stranger locates Ryan Chappelle's blood sample and switches it with a different vial, making sure to place the label on the fake, before leaving. Megan returns a few minutes later with a bunch of "I'm Sorry" balloons, wondering what Tim had to apologize for.

1:23am PST

CTU Headquarters, Los Angeles

Tony is reviewing data on three likely aliases for Sungkar when Jamey Farrell enters to tell him about Jack's escape from prison. Surprised at the news, Tony asks what CTU is doing to help find him; Jamey says that George Mason was sent to liaise with the marshals, but unhappily suggests that their office should have been handling Jack from the beginning. She doubts that somebody like Jack would ever kill somebody for no reason, and Tony is inclined to agree. However, he tells her that she needs to put it aside for now to focus on his leads on Jemaah Islamiyah - the Southeast Asian forum is shaping up to be a definite target, and she needs to start pulling intel.

1:29am PST

The Metro, Los Angeles

''At the age of fifteen, Jorge Marquez left MS-13, which in a few short years he had helped turn the corner from a pathetic little crew into a growing criminal empire. He ran home to his uncle Juan's house in Boyle Heights, where Juan angrily ordered him to leave, not wanting a gang member living in his house. Already, Jorge had come to despise all authority as dictatorship, and barely suppressed an urge to murder his uncle, stayed only by the fact that he would then have to pay for his own room and board. The boy who would later be known as Zapata had left his new family after seeing their limitations, but had already set his sights on a new puzzle: the growing popularity of connected personal computers. The next day, he packed his few belongings and ran away again.''

Zapata and Frances Aguillar ride a nearly empty metro bus away from the Staples Center. At the far side of the car, Zapata notices a cherub-faced middle-aged man talking to a teenage girl, both of them just come from the concert. He wakes Aguillar and points them out, saying that the man is about to suggest that he walk with the girl once they stop, and he plans to rape her. Aguillar is doubtful, but Zapata points out how the man has imposed himself on her, by sitting in the next seat and creating a "we" where one does not exist. He explains that society's rules prevent the girl from doing the smart thing and getting away from a dangerous situation, and the situation is a perfect example of why that society needs to be destroyed. The bus squeals to halt, but rather than wait for their stop, Zapata tells Aguillar that they are getting off here, following the would-be rapist and his prey.

Zapata takes Aguillar's stun gun and catches up to the two on the landing, just as the businessman offers to walk the girl home, then shoots the cherub in the chest. He orders the terrified young woman to leave, then proceeds to shock the businessman repeatedly on the neck, stomach, and genitals. Zapata forces the man to confess that he was planning to rape the girl, then leaves with a warning that if he hurts any more women, they will find him again.

Aguillar follows Zapata up the stairs to Flower Avenue, once again marvelling at his boss's uncanny ability to observe people and know them almost instantaneously. He remarks that Zapata is always right, and Zapata himself agrees.