Mandy

"I see your men Michelle; you lied to me, you bitch! You are not going to take me alive, got it?"
 * &mdash; Mandy to Michelle Dessler, "Day 4: 5:00am-6:00am"

Mandy was a professional assassin for hire who participated in two conspiracies to assassinate President David Palmer (Days 1 and 2) and assisted Habib Marwan during Day 4. The name, Mandy, was the alias that she most frequently used.

Over the years, Mandy proved to be a formidable adversary to the agents of CTU Los Angeles. She seemed to have spent most of her time completely under the radar, surfacing only to cause havoc at a critical moment, then vanishing into obscurity once more. She alternately collaborated with an international oil consortium and fundamentalist Islamic terror cells, apparently loyal to none but herself.

On Day 4, Mandy was finally apprehended by CTU for her role in helping Habib Marwan kidnap Secretary of Defense James Heller. In exchange for her cooperation in stopping Marwan, she was granted a presidential pardon for her many crimes, including the attempted assassination of President David Palmer.

Before Day 1
Nothing is known about Mandy's background or past criminal activities. She was apparently a longtime colleague of Ira Gaines, who referred to several "jobs" that the two of them had collaborated on in the past.

Shortly before Day 1, Gaines hired Mandy to acquire Martin Belkin's press ID in exchange for $1 million as part of a plot to assassinate Senator David Palmer. Hours before the day began, using the name Angela P. Elliott, she boarded Flight 221 nonstop from Berlin, Germany to Los Angeles, and was seated next to Belkin on the plane.

Day 1


An hour before the plane's scheduled landing, Mandy overheard a phone conversation between Belkin and Palmer staffer Patty Brooks and pretended to show interest in him. Small talk and flirting began, until they wound up in the bathroom having sex. During the encounter, Mandy was able to steal his wallet, including the ID. Afterwards, Mandy asked to meet him once they got to L.A., but he told her he'd be too busy.

After Belkin returned to his seat and fell asleep, Mandy went into the back area, killing a stewardess and lining the exit door with explosives. After changing into a jumpsuit and parachute, she retrieved a bomb from a hollowed out fire extinguisher and set the timer. Blowing the door open, Mandy flew out the plane seconds before it exploded, killing all passengers, and parachuted to safety in the Mojave Desert.



On the ground, Mandy started a signal fire and destroyed the parachute as well as her clothes. Before being picked up by one of Gaines' men, she buried Belkin's identification in a homing device under the sand. She was then taken to Gaines' compound where he presented her with her money. She told him he'd get the ID soon.

In the bathroom, Mandy ran into the assassin Jonathan Matijevich and was amazed by his resemblance to Belkin, due to plastic surgery.

Bridgit arrived a short while later with a Polaroid photo of the ID. Mandy told her to give Gaines the ID, but she wanted an additional $1 million instead before she'd reveal its location. Gaines demanded that Mandy handle Bridgit's demands for more money. Mandy argued with Bridgit, but Bridgit would not budge. Mandy relented, and agreed to demand the extra million from Gaines. Jonathan a sniper who works for Gaines, has followed them til the desert and after Bridgit turned over the ID Card, she was killed by Jonathan. Gaines asked Mandy if she was in for next summer, and she stared straight at the sniper, who had his crosshairs on her. She knew what would happen if she refused, and she choked down sadness as she agreed.

It is unknown if that job went ahead however, as Gaines was killed by Jack Bauer nine hours later, during the rescue of his wife and daughter.

Day 2


Mandy was called in by Max at the end of Day 2 after David Palmer called off the war between America and the three Middle Eastern countries. She attended at a press conference held by David Palmer and shook his hand while wearing a layer of poinsoned plastic on her palm. Palmer fell to the ground, his hand infected with the biological weapon, while Mandy peeled off the plastic and made her escape.

After Day 2
The attack was partially successful; though Palmer lived, he was wheelchair-bound for months and was significantly weakened physically for years afterwards. In addition, his presidency was taken over for the next six months by Vice President James Prescott until an attempt was made on his life.

The Game


During a meeting between Max and California Governor James Radford, Radford got cold feet and attempted to walk out. Mandy prevented Radford from getting the opportunity to do so by cutting his throat. The deed was witnessed by Tony Almeida.

After The Game
Shortly before Day 4, Habib Marwan hired Mandy to place a tap on Richard Heller's cell phone. Mandy and her associate Gary picked up Richard at a bar and took a taxi back to his house. While Gary and Richard had sex, Mandy bugged Richard's cell phone and used it to call Marwan. This allowed Marwan to hear his calls and learn about Richard's planned meeting with his father, Secretary of Defense James Heller, and organize his abduction in the early hours of Day 4.

Day 4
Late in the day, CTU recovered Marwan's cell phone records, and noticed Richard's name in his history. Richard had been interrogated at length earlier, but was released when it seemed he had no knowledge of his father's kidnapping. At 4:30 AM, he was brought into CTU once more, where he finally told his father about his encounter with Mandy and Gary (and, incidentally, was forced to admit to his family that he was gay). By contacting the taxi company that had driven Richard back to his house, CTU discovered the address where Mandy and Gary were located and dispatched a TAC team under the command of Jack Bauer.

While Mandy and Gary were having sex in their room at the Mercerwood apartment complex, she heard helicopters oustide. She realized that they'd been discovered by CTU. She killed Gary and climbed up to the rooftop. She killed Lee Castle and then took Tony Almeida hostage. She bound and gagged Tony in a vacant apartment. Mandy then researched Tony’s background on a laptop and saw a story on the web about his dismissal from CTU and his connection to Michelle Dessler. Michelle got a call from Mandy, who sent a photo message of Tony to prove that he was alive. Mandy wanted Michelle to help her escape. Michelle stalled, but Mandy demanded that one of the exits be cleared or else Tony would be killed. She attempted to evade the agents by using her neighbors, Shari and Ian, as decoys, but was eventually cornered by Bauer and subdued by Curtis Manning. Mandy gave up Marwan's location only after her lawyer, Todd Richards, verified that her immunity deal truly guaranteed that she would face no consequences for any of her crimes.

Day 8
Mandy was offered money to aid in the assassination of President Omar Hassan, but turned the job down.

Deadline
After escaping New York and calling Chase, Jack called Mandy in order to help him fake his death. Arkady Bazin of SVR also hired her to assassinate Jack. After Chase was killed by Benjamin Rydell and the FBI cornered Jack, she appears out of nowhere and shot Jack, apparently killing him. However, this was a ruse so that Jack could escape. Jack later sternly told Mandy that he did not approve of her mercenary activity and only called her out of desperation. Her attempt to fool the Russians failed. Aboard the train, SVR members, furious about Mandy's betrayal, engaged Jack and Mandy in a shootout. Jack and Mandy win. As Mandy escaped the train, she told Jack to lose her number if he was ever in trouble again.

Identity



 * It was never specified if "Mandy" was her true real name. The "Previously on 24" segment referred to her as "Mandy", and in the very first episode, she introduces herself to Martin as such. Gaines also refers to her by this name. According to Day 1: 4:00am-5:00am, her seat on Flight 221 was booked under the name "Angela P. Elliott". According to Findings at CTU she registered aboard Flight 221 as "Miranda Stapleton." Her neighbors during Season 4 referred to her as "Rothenberg", and in "Day 4: 5:00am-6:00am", CTU only refers to her as 'the hostile'.
 * The name Rothenberg, an alias used by Mandy, re-appears as the last name of Shari Rothenberg, the replacement of Edgar Stiles on Season 5. No connection was ever stated or implied.
 * Mandy seems to possess sharp shooting skills and may be a marksman, as is shown in Season 4. She is also capable of fighting hand to hand combat and uses elbows and kicking effectively in the melee fight with Tony.

Appearances notes

 * Writer David Fury revealed during a Comic-Con 2009 interview that at one point Mandy was to be Tony Almeida's accomplice in Season 7. They decided to use a new character, Cara Bowden instead.
 * Joel Surnow revealed that once again, Mandy was set to return to the series, this time as the assassin who plotted to kill President Omar Hassan. A new character, Davros was used instead. Howard Gordon said "Mandy always came up a bunch of times, but unfortunately, it felt like a sensational move. We chose not to go down that path."
 * Joel Surnow later revealed that if a spin-off series is produced after the 24 feature film (the spin-off series would revolve around CTU NY agent Cole Ortiz from season 8) that Mandy will likely return, and possibly in a much larger role.
 * When asked if there was a chance of Mandy's return in 24: Live Another Day, David Fury said "Always."

Other



 * Mandy is the first character in the series to murder someone on-screen.
 * Mandy had many relationships throughout her appearances. She seduced Martin Belkin on Flight 221, but only to further the assassination plot in Season 1. She was in a personal relationship with Bridgit at the time, who was killed for extorting an extra million dollars out of Ira Gaines by withholding Belkin's ID card. During Season 4 she was in a relationship with fellow mercenary, Gary. When her safety was threatened, she killed Gary to distract CTU forces.
 * After the conclusion of the series in 2014, Mandy remains the only multiple season antagonist to remain at large.
 * In the 2013 Indian remake of 24, Mandy's counterpart is Mehr, a mercenary-for-hire who fulfills the same role as in the first season.