Day 7: 8:00pm-9:00pm

As Benjamin Juma raid on the White House reaches a climax, Jack Bauer, Bill Buchanan and Aaron Pierce work together to save President Allison Taylor. As one threat diminishes another rises as Jonas Hodges works to cover up his involvement in the incident, starting with Ryan Burnett before Bauer and Larry Moss can question him.

Previously on 24

 * Jack Bauer interrogates Ryan Burnett about who is plotting the next attack, but a Secret Service team moves in to stop Jack's interrogation.
 * FBI Agent Renee Walker informs Larry Moss that General Benjamin Juma's men are attacking the White House, plotting to kill President Allison Taylor. Moss' FBI team sets up a perimeter around the White House, ready to attack Juma and his men.
 * Bill Buchanan informs the White House staff that they are under attack and calls for a lockdown. A gunfight erupts between the Secret Service and Juma's men. Juma's men get the upper hand and capture everyone except for Jack, President Taylor and her daughter, Olivia.
 * In a telephone call, Jonas Hodges tells General Juma that Olivia (aided by retired special agent Aaron Pierce) is somewhere in hiding within the White House. Olivia is captured by one of Juma's men.
 * Jack manages to take President Allison Taylor to the safe room; however, they are forced to surrender when Juma captures President Taylor's daughter, Olivia, threatening to kill her.

The following takes place between 8:00pm and 9:00pm.

08:00:00
While Vice President Mitchell Hayworth and a group of advisors watch the news coverage about the attack at the White House, inside the building, Juma and his men are preparing to broadcast a live statement from President Allison Taylor.

As Juma and his men get things ready, President Allison Taylor is talking to her daughter who is apologizing for what she did during her campaign and for getting away from her afterwards. Taylor tells her there's nothing to forgive and assures her that everything's going to be okay. She also whispers to Olivia to keep her eyes open.



Meanwhile, Jack tells Bill Buchanan that, whilst in the safe room, he opened some CH-4 gas canisters, and that they would explode with the smallest spark. He hatches a plan to draw fire upon himself near the entrance, thereby allowing Buchanan to secure the President and take out all of Juma's remaining men. Bill infers that Jack is talking about a suicide mission, and Jack says something has to be done to save the President. Senator Blaine Mayer is curious to what they're planning, but Jack tells him to shut up.

When Ngozi tells General Juma that the uplink is ready, he tells President Taylor to read the statement. The President pleads him to release the hostages since he already has what he wanted. Juma tells her that as a sign of "good faith", he will release one hostage. He then surveys the group of hostages and tells a young man to stand up. He stands him apart and shoots him in the head. When Juma returns to President Taylor, he asks her "Do you want me to *release* any more hostages?".

08:06:38



President Taylor agrees to read the statement and Juma hands her a card. She then begins to read it as they transmit it live via the Internet. The statement condemns the US invasion of Sangala as a crime. When the Vice President sees it, he orders his Chief of Staff Derek Watts if they can shut this down. Derek tells her they can't because it's been relayed through several independent servers on the Internet and it would take them forever to locate them all. At this moment, Larry Moss calls the Vice President again and tells him that he thinks Juma plans to humiliate and then execute the President live. He then tells him that they have a tactical team ready and asks him to authorize their operation. The Vice President tells him that his advisers have told him that the best course of action would be to converse with Juma, to what Larry replies that he has refused to speak. Despite this, the Vice President refuses until they can prove that the President will be unharmed in the operation.



Inside the White House, Jack again approaches Bill about their plan. Bill then tells Jack that he heard Juma on a satellite phone talking to an outside contact. He assures Jack that whoever it was means that the threat won't be over even if they stop Juma. Bill says that Jack would be the best person to find who that is and finally put an end to the conspiracy that he had been trying to track down for so long. Before Jack can realize Buchanan's plan, Bill runs up to one of Juma's men near the safe room and tackles him, taking his gun. Before the other men can react, Buchanan shoots the gun straight upwards, and a huge explosion ensues. As the teams outside hear the explosion, Larry decides to send his teams in to save the hostages and take down the enemies. As Jack grabs a gun, he screams at Aaron Pierce and tells him to protect the President. They both start shooting Juma's men securing the place and Aaron takes the President and her daughter away. Meanwhile, the FBI tactical team also eliminates terrorists as they head towards the hostages.

As Juma and Ngozi lay injured by the explosion, Juma tells him to kill the hostages while he kills the President. As Ngozi prepares to do so, Jack kills him and approaches Juma ordering him to put the gun down. Juma however reaches for his gun, so Jack shoots him several times in the chest. As the FBI teams swarm the corridor and clear the place, Jack looks at the safe room and sees Bill's body lying by the entrance. As Larry and Renee take the President to a safe place, Jack walks over to Bill's corpse and collapses by it, sobbing.

(Silent clock) 08:11:52...08:11:53...08:11:54...

08:16:18
As the FBI secures the White House, Agent Reynolds approaches the President and briefs her on the situation. She then tells her that after they finish they will take her and Olivia to Andrews Air Force Base. Even though he insists, the President refuses, saying that the American people must know that the president is in the White House. She then asks him about casualties and he tells her is too soon to know. She then tells him to communicate her with the Vice President as soon as possible and to inquire about her husband with Dr. Lee Schulman. As Reynolds retires, the President starts comforting her daughter for what happened. As they talk, another agent came and informed her that they had the Vice President on a secure line. Before leaving, she asked her daughter if she meant what she said during the siege. When Olivia assures her that she did, Taylor tells her she doesn't want to lose her again. She then kisses her and leaves to talk with Hayworth. As Olivia looks back, he sees Aaron standing up to be tended by a medic and he nods at her.

08:15:55 As Larry and Renee walk around coordinating everything, she sees Jack still lying by Bill's body and she approaches him. After telling him that the President is safe, she tells him that she is sorry. Jack tells her that it was supposed to be him who set off the explosion. She reminds him that he died protecting his country. Jack then stands up and tells Renee that the threat to the President isn't over yet. He approaches Larry and tells him what Bill said, about an outside contact giving Juma real-time intel. Larry says he would talk to Ryan Burnett about the outside contact, but Jack says that the president had already offered him immunity. Instead, he asks him to let him continue his interrogation of Burnett, but he assures him that this time he won't even have to touch him. However, Larry puts him into custody and says he'll investigate about Burnett. As they take Jack away, Renee expresses her disagreement with Larry.

08:21:48

As Ethan Kanin arrives at the White House, he is briefed by an FBI Agent. Ethan then tells him to set up a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Renee then approaches Ethan and tells him about what Jack said of an outside contact and the still pending threat.

At Starkwood, Greg Seaton informs Jonas Hodges about Juma's death and that Allison Taylor is still alive. Hodges is not extremely worried because Juma held his part of the deal. He assures Seaton that everything is still on track because they obtained the weapons they wanted.

08:23:57...08:23:28...08:23:59...

08:28:28
Larry tells an FBI agent to take Jack to their command center and put him in holding. A moment after that, he gets a call from Ethan Kanin telling him that he just spoke with Renee about a still impending threat. Larry confirms what Renee said and Ethan orders him to send Jack to question Burnett. Larry thinks that it is a mistake, but Ethan insists saying that Jack's approach may be the only way to make Burnett talk. Ethan says that it must be a controlled interrogation and that Larry himself should supervise it. Finally, he says that this interrogation is under Ethan's authority and that the President shouldn't know about it.

08:30:28

President Taylor is meeting with Patrick, one of her aides, and tells him that she wants to speak personally to the families of everyone that died that night. She also tells Patrick to contact her Press Secretary Angela Nelson to start working on a speech to the nation. As she notices stress on Patrick's face, she comforts her and tells him he can go home if he wants. However, Patrick assures her that he'll be alright and that work helps him keep his mind occupied.

As she dismisses him, Ethan arrives and they hug as he tells her how worried he was about her. She tells him she'll be okay. As they sit down to talk, Taylor tells Ethan that she wants to bring Olivia on as a special adviser. Ethan disagrees because during Taylor's campaign, Olivia had leaked damaging information about her opponent to the press. However, the President wants to put the past behind so they can move forward and pleads Ethan to do the same. She asks him to make her the offer personally so they can make their own amends. Ethan reluctantly agrees to do it.

08:33:25

The helicopter that is supposed to take Jack away lands and Jack gets on it. As Larry is about to board it, he approaches Renee and tells her that he just got off the phone with Ethan Kanin. Renee says that she didn't have a choice. She tells him how Jack had been right about everything all the time, and how she thinks if they hadn't interfered with him none of the events would've happened. Larry says he'll take Jack to interrogate Burnett, and tells Renee to go back to the FBI, clean her office and turn in her badge, suspending her indefinitely. Surprised, Renee tells him that he is going to need her, but he replies that he needs people that he can trust and he thought he could trust her, but apparently not. As he boards the helicopter, Jack tells him to leave Renee out of this, but Larry says that she circumvented his authority. Jack then tells him that she's the best agent he has.

08:36:05...08:36:06...08:36:07...

08:40:36
Back at Starkwood, Tom Chapman is briefing Hodges on twelve possible targets they could choose for their attack. The targets are located along the eastern seaboard and have a high population density allowing for a larger casualty ratio. Hodges then tells him to prepare their men at tactical. As Chapman leaves, Seaton arrives and tells Hodges that they intercepted a flash memo from the FBI notifying that Jack will interrogate Burnett at Kennedy Memorial Hospital. Hodges worries that Burnett would incriminate them, but Seaton tells him that he already took care of it by sending a hitman, Quinn, to kill Burnett.

Larry and Jack arrive at Kennedy Memorial Hospital and are greeted by the Federal Marshal guarding Burnett. He takes them to meet Doctor Wyndham who is in charge of Burnett. Wyndham rebukes Jack for torturing his patient so harshly, but Jack reminds him that his patient was involved in most of the terrorist attacks of the day. Wyndham then tells him that they must wait until he can bring Burnett back into consciousness.

Quinn, disguised as a hospital orderly slips into a patient's room. He starts talking with him and asking him about his family. After he tells him that he has no family, Quinn smothers him with a pillow. Nurses rush to the patients room, giving Quinn enough time to hack into the hospital's computer system to obtain information about Burnett's location and the schematics of the building. He then walks into another room and removes a ceiling panel and slips through it.

Back at the White House, Olivia vists Aaron Pierce, who is being taken care of by several medics. She thanks him for everything he did, but he just tells her it's her job. She then asks him why he retired and about what happened to Martha Logan. Aaron tells her he doesn't want to talk about that. She apologizes and thanks him again for everything. Ethan finds her here and asks her if they can talk. As they sit down, Ethan tells her that the President wants to have her as a special adviser. She is surprised by the offer and concedes that what she did during the campaign was indeed wrong. She then proceeds to attack Ethan for allowing all this corruption to reach her mother. Ethan is offended by her accusations, but she swears that she will find whoever was responsible for all this.

08:53:59
Back at the hospital, Burnett is regaining consciousness. Before Jack is taken into the room, Larry tells him that if he lays a finger on Burnett, he will take him out. Jack is led to Burnett's room, while Larry and the federal marshal set up at the nurses station to monitor him through surveillance cameras. Jack approaches Burnett and tells him to wake up. As he does, he is terrified to see Jack with him. Burnett asks for help, but Jack assures him that no one will help him now.

As he is talking with Burnett, Quinn, who is above the room starts interrupting the video and audio feed with a device to prevent Larry from watching. He then lets a small vial of nerve gas to fall on the room paralyzing Jack and Burnett. As Jack falls on the floor, Quinn drops in the room with a gas mask and smashes the door electronic panel. He then breaks a glass panel, takes a broken shard of glass and plants Jack's fingerprints on it. Quinn slits Burnett's throat and stabs him in the abdomen with it, then leaving through the roof again. As Jack revives moments later, Larry regains the video feed only to see Burnett murdered. As Larry runs to the room, Jack realizes what is happening and slips through the roof as well, just as Larry breaks in the room.

Outside of the hospital, Quinn calls Starkwood to report that Burnett is dead. Jack runs outside of the hospital as well, but loses track of Quinn and instead focuses on escaping from the hospital. As Larry is exploring the room, Jack calls him and tells him that he is being set up. Larry tells him to return and if he's innocent, they will sort it out. Jack knows that whoever did this wants Jack out of play. He urges Larry not to get distracted because this threat isn't over. Jack then runs away from the hospital.

08:59:57...08:59:58...08:59:59...09:00:00

Starring

 * Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer
 * Cherry Jones as President Allison Taylor
 * James Morrison as Bill Buchanan
 * Annie Wersching as Renee Walker
 * Bob Gunton as Ethan Kanin
 * Jeffrey Nordling as Larry Moss

Special guest star

 * Kurtwood Smith as Senator Blaine Mayer

Guest starring

 * Glenn Morshower as Aaron Pierce
 * Rory Cochrane as Greg Seaton
 * Sprague Grayden as Olivia Taylor
 * Frank John Hughes as Tim Woods
 * Sebastian Roché as John Quinn
 * Tony Todd as General Benjamin Juma
 * Eyal Podell as Ryan Burnett
 * Cameron Daddo as Vice President Mitchell Hayworth
 * Johnathan McClain as Derek Watts
 * Terrell Tilford as Agent Reynolds
 * Philip Anthony-Rodriguez as Tom Chapman
 * Burt Bulos as FBI agent
 * Cas Anvar as Dr. Wyndham
 * Lovensky Jean-Baptiste as Udo
 * Burl Moseley as Abo
 * Keston John as Ngozi
 * Glenn Davis as Federal marshal
 * Richard Roat as Robert

Special guest appearance by

 * Jon Voight as Jonas Hodges

Co-starring

 * James Bulliard as Patrick
 * Anthony DeSantis as FBI Agent #2
 * Ron Pitts as Reporter

Memorable quotes

 * General Benjamin Juma: As a sign of good faith, I will release one of the hostages. (kills a hostage)  Do you want me to "release" any more hostages, President Taylor?
 * President Allison Taylor: You son of a bitch!


 * Bill Buchanan: (his last lines) You're the only one who I know can do this, Jack. Find out who Juma's working with.


 * Jack Bauer: (referring to Bill Buchanan's death) That was supposed to be me.


 * Senator Blaine Mayer: Damn it, if you're planning something, I want to know about it.
 * Jack Bauer: Senator, shut up!


 * Jonas Hodges: Well, you gotta' admire the damn bitch. She doesn't give up easily.
 * Greg Seaton: I'm sorry sir, we just didn't have enough control over the situation.
 * Jonas Hodges: Greg, you look tense. Do me a favor: have a drink, relax.


 * Renee Walker: Larry, I have seen Jack do some terrible things today, things that I still can't justify. But he has been right every time. And, you know what? I-I can't help but think that maybe if we just stayed out of his way, none of this would've happened.


 * Jonas Hodges: Quinn is good. Bauer is good too.


 * Larry Moss: We're watching. You lay one finger on him, it's over.
 * Jack Bauer: (sarcastically) Right.


 * Jonas Hodges: Now we're having some fun.

Background information and notes

 * International airdates:
 * UK: March 16, 2009.
 * This is the final episode featuring series regular James Morrison. He appeared in a total of 64 episodes since his introduction in Day 4.
 * Janeane Garofalo, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Carlos Bernard, Colm Feore and Rhys Coiro are absent from this episode.
 * Martha Logan is mentioned in a conversation between Olivia Taylor and Aaron Pierce. The context was that something sad (perhaps death or debilitating mental illness) had happened to her, but no details were specified.
 * This episode contains the ninth silent clock of the series. It is the second time it has been used before the end of an episode, and the earliest it has been used in an episode.
 * Frank John Hughes is credited but has no lines in the episode and is only seen in the background during the opening scene.