Day 6: 6:00pm-7:00pm

At the Russian Consulate, Jack Bauer is pursued by Anatoly Markov's men and hides in a basement, forcing a couple to help him make a phone call to the outside world. Meanwhile, new head of Field Ops, Mike Doyle, arrives at CTU to head the mission to extract Markov and rescue Bauer. Abu Fayed meets up with Dmitri Gredenko at Shadow Valley to prepare the aerial bombs. Charles Logan goes to his ex-wife, Martha, for help on diffusing the international incident.

Episode guide
Previously on 24
 * Reed Pollock presses buttons on a detonator. A bomb is heard being readied. President Wayne Palmer is hurried away and there's a sudden explosion. An severely injured Palmer is on a gurney, hurried to a medical room. Reed tells Tom Lennox that Vice President Noah Daniels is now ruining the country. He will indefinably implement Lennox' security plan. Later, Lennox tells Agent Lowry and his men to take Bruce Carson and Pollock into custody for orchestrating the assassination on Palmer.


 * Vice President Noah Daniels is walking off Air Force Two as his assistant, Lisa Miller, directs a call from CTU to him. He now knows that Palmer granted Charles Logan a furlough. Bill Buchanan conveys to Daniels that Logan thinks he can help find the remaining nukes through the Russian Consulate in LA. Jack and Logan walk into the consulate.


 * Former President Charles Logan talks to Anatoly Markov, who cuts his cigar with a cigar-cutter. Logan reiterates that the nuclear explosion in Valencia was a Russian suitcase bomb supplied to the terrorists by Dmitri Gredenko. Logan asks Markov where Gredenko is. Markov insists that he doesn't know.


 * In the Mojave Desert, Dmitri Gredenko receives a call from Markov. Markov tells him that the US has connected him to Fayed and his terrorists. Gredenko says that the reason they brought the Arabs into the conspiracy was to conceal their involvement. Now Russia is exposed.


 * Jack Bauer listens to Logan's reasoning. Logan conveys to him that he just spent two years in Chinese custody because he violated their sovereignty. Logan asks if he wants to take that chance on happening again because he's about to enter the Russian consulate illegally. Bauer simply looks at him. Later, Bauer shouts saying to Markov, how can he find Gredenko as he points a gun at his head. Markov breaks and says Gredenko is in the Mojave Desert, in the Shadow Valley. He's preparing aerial drones for Fayed. In two hours, all the bombs will be in the air. Outside, an agent tells his men not to move yet because Bauer's close to Markov. As Bauer leaves, they bomb the door down. They secure Bauer and carry him into custody.

The following takes place between 6:00pm and 7:00pm

06:00:00


Security guards escort Charles Logan through CTU. He glances around and sighs. As he is escorted, personnel around them react emotionally, including Morris O'Brian and Chloe. Milo Pressman walks past them. Logan ventures into a holding room. He situates himself as Chloe O'Brian picks up her laptop and walks to the room. She tells the guards she has to transmit the transcripts for the debrief. The guards enters in the code and she walks in. Logan sees her come in and asks who she is. She introduces herself. He asks if she knows what's happened to Jack Bauer. As far as she knows, Bauer's still in the Russian Consulate. Logan wants to talk to Bill Buchanan immediately. Buchanan will be right there in a few minutes. Logan asks if he knows that he's all alone in this cell. Chloe says this is not a cell and he's hardly alone as she gestures toward a surveillance camera at the ceiling. Everything happening to Logan is standard procedure for someone under house arrest. Logan begs her pardon, saying excuse me. O'Brian apologizes. Since she's feeling ambivalent, she leaves. Logan stares at her as she departs the room.

An unknown CTU agent reads documents in the Situation Room. Buchanan comes in and introduces the unknown person as Mike Doyle, from Fort Bragg, new head of Field Operations. All TAC and COM agents report to him now directly. Buchanan conveys to his staff that Jack Bauer is still being held captive in the Russian Consulate. He doesn't want this information to reach the outside; Doyle will assemble a TAC team profile for assault on the Consulate.

Milo objects to this and inquires if they're prepared to assault the Consulate just to liberate one of their operatives. Doyle explains to Pressman that saving Bauer is a secondary goal while the primary goal is to abduct Anatoly Markov, the Russian Consul General. According to Jack, Markov knows how to find the three remaining suitcase nuclear weapons. Milo excuses himself, and asks if anybody is worried this action will be seen as an act of war against the Russians. Buchanan says it's ultimely the Vice President's decision if they go in or not. If Bauer is right, and Markov is conspiring with Gredenko, the Russians will have to back down.

Chloe walks in and says that Logan is ready for the debrief. Buchanan thanks her and tells them he wants a comprehensive siege profile on his desk ASAP as he leaves the room. Doyle asks Nadia Yassir where the control keys for the main servers are. She finds them on her computer so Doyle orders her to bracket the scenarios on different personnel. Milo tells him they normally assess the TAC profile before doing that. Doyle doesn't care what they normally do; he was speaking to Nadia. Milo understands, and just got a weird feeling that Doyle wasn't the same jerk as he was at CTU Denver but he is. Doyle says obviously he is the same person he was at Denver. Doyle leaves, telling them to get to work. Nadia closes her computer and takes it Milo knew Doyle prior to today. Milo confirms that and doesn't like Mike that much. Nadia asks if Doyle is good at what he does. Milo says he is and they leave. Chloe asks Morris what Buchanan said. Morris says they're ready to move on the Consulate but they need approval from the White House. Chloe asks if Jack is on his own; Morris says yeah. It's all about Markov, not saving Jack. He leaves while Chloe is worried.

At the Russian Consulate, a handcuffed Bauer is escorted to the basement stairwell by Russian FSB Agent Vasili. Shockingly, he sees Stovich's dead body. Vasili then kicks Bauer and hits him on the head, causing him to fall down the stairs next to Stovich's body. Vasili calls Markov, who watches the surveillance feed. As he bandages his hand, Markov answers it. Vasili says he's terminating the American now and asks for confirmation. Markov says yes. Vasili asks if he's sure there won't be any political complications as Bauer covertly seizes Stovich's belt. Markov says he is as long as they stick to their cover-up story: Bauer, the American, killed Stovich and tried to escape. Vasili hangs up and prepares to assassinate Jack.

Bauer uses the belt, grabbing Vasili's gun, and taking it away from him. He kicks Vasili over him. Bauer crawls to the gun while Vasili discharges a knife in order to kill him. Bauer grabs the gun, and shoots Vasili dead. Markov sees this and summons his operatives, telling them the American killed Vasili; he's in the basement. Jack gets Vasili's knife and cuts his handcuffs. FSB agents and Russian military officers scour the Consulate, looking for Bauer. They check door after door, looking for the American.

Bauer, gun drawn, ventures along a hall and goes inside a storage room. He closes the door and sees a phone, but draws his weapon towards the door. Just outside, the Russian agents go inside the room and look for Jack. One military officer grabs a briefcase, suggesting that Jack is there. But he's not. They leave the room, as Bauer is well hidden behind the shelves. Markov receives a call from a FSB agent, telling them they haven't found the American, but they secured the perimeter. There's no way for Bauer to leave the building. Markov says Bauer can't allowed to call out. He orders the agent to shut down the phone lines, DSL, everything. In the storage room, Bauer jumps off the shelf, and clutches his chest. He draws his weapon and grabs the phone. He makes a call to CTU. Morris answers and Jack says it's him. He tells Morris he knows how to find Gredenko, but suddenly the line breaks off. Morris calls out Jack's name but there's only static. This catches Milo's attention. Jack tries to call back, but to no avail. He hangs up, cussing. He then sees a circuit panel on the wall, and goes toward it. He opens it and destroys it with his gun, shorting the panels and wires. The lights in all rooms of the basement go out, including his. Back at CTU, Milo informs Buchanan that Morris received a call from Jack. The line went dead, but apparently, Jack knows Gredenko's location.

06:08:09

Buchanan asks if they traced the call. Milo says the the call came from the Russian consulate. Bill orders Milo to monitor the calls in case Jack calls back and to tell Doyle that Bauer has key intel and is no longer dispensable. Milo acknowledges and goes to do that. Logan sits in his room, waiting for Buchanan. Buchanan comes in and picks up the equipment, telling Logan they have to delay their debriefing because of a immediate situation. Logan deduces it has to do with Jack at the Consulate and wants to help. Bill confirms that and says Bauer found out Gredenko's location, but wasn't able to get it to CTU so Logan's theory was true. Charles tells Bill storming the Consulate is a big mistake. Markov will not let himself be captured, and he'll kill Jack. Bill says Russian President Yuri Suvarov is reluctant to be involved as he was in a diplomatic standoff with Acting President Daniels.

Logan comes up with a suggestion: Martha Logan. She's close with the Suvarovs, particularly with Anya, Yuri's wife. Bill thought Mrs.Logan was institutionalized but Charles says that's besides the point. Charles thinks Martha can put a call to Anya, who'll persuade Yuri. Buchanan says he'll put in a call to Martha, but Logan prefers to do it. Bill thought they weren't on speaking terms, and Charles conveys they're not. But Martha can be difficult and Logan wants to appeal to her personally.

Doyle orders a technician to work on his computer and asks Chloe how many are those on TAC teams.

06:10:40

Chloe says five. Doyle wants it to three more, more teams cover more area. Chloe irritatedly acknowledges her orders. Doyle asks who is estimating the Consulate defense figures, to which Morris answers. Doyle asks him where the numbers are and Morris says he's sorting it out. Doyle becomes impatient while Morris snaps a smart remark, saying he sorted the numbers in three different ways. Doyle grabs him by the throat in anger. Chloe reacts to this as Doyle makes an announcement to the personnel.

He lets go of Morris and reiterates that 25 soldiers are about to put their butts on the line and whether they live or die depends largely on what's done by the technicians. Not to mention the largest threat of three nuclear weapons that could be down the street for all they know, Doyle says. He orders anyone who doesn't like him but hasn't given lip should alert him so he could reassign them. Milo tells Mike to keep his hands off his people. Mike wants to make an understanding of authority. If Doyle has any questions about his team, he should come to Pressman. Doyle relents and tells Milo to have his "team" merge their results to him. Milo checks up on Morris. After a cocky joke, Morris assures him that he's fine. Milo thought he was a pain in the butt, so therefore Milo and Morris share a common enemy.

Back at the White House Bunker in D.C., Tom Lennox is led by Lisa Miller and several Secret Service agents to Daniels's office. Lisa discloses that Daniels likes Tom and hope he has a good answer for him. Lennox hopes so too. Lennox meets with Daniels and they shake hands. Daniels orders the agents to leave. Noah asks if Tom has given thought about their earlier conversation, and Tom has. He's prepared to look the other way on the assassination plot to a point. Lennox realizes the priority is to protect the country. Since they both agree, Daniels instructs Lennox to convey to the Ambassador a fabrication that he saw Assad plant the explosive. Lennox says looking the other way is one thing, but lying to an ambassador is not what he intends to do. Daniels is infuriated, but continues to persuade Lennox. Neither Lennox nor Daniels was involved in the heinous plot, and the best thing is they can implement their policy to catch the terrorists lunatics, Daniels discloses this. Daniels puts his arm over Lennox, consoling him that the fabrication will help him. Lennox reluctantly agrees.

Daniels has Miller to contact DOJ clearing Lennox of any wrongdoing and he'll continues serving as Chief of Staff. After Lennox inquires about Daniels is going to do, Daniels tells him he's holding the Ambassador's country responsible for the nuke and the presidential assassination attempt. Daniels says they need to be motivated to reign in these terrorists. He also wants the Ambassador and his country to know America is mad as hell and ready to retaliate with a nuclear option. Lennox is evidently disturbed by the dilemma.

06:15:55, 06:15:56, 06:15:57

06:20:22
Split screen: Abu Fayed arrives in a van at Shadow Valley; Logan sits in the holding room; Bauer in his basement room at the Russian consulate. 06:20:27.

Dmitri Gredenko tells his associate Fayed's here. Gredenko is glad Fayed's arrived, telling his associate they need to load the bombs. Fayed steps off the van, carrying one suitcase bomb as his men carry the other two. Fayed places the suitcase on a table, and walks toward Gredenko, checking on his status. Gredenko turns around and looks at Fayed as their men take the bombs out of the suitcase to load them.

Daniels talks to Buchanan about the situation via speakerphone from the White House to CTU LA. Bill tells him Jack Bauer's still at large in the Russian Consulate and he knows Gredenko's location but isn't able to give it. Daniels asks Bill what the plan is and Buchanan discloses Logan thinks he can convince his ex-wife, Martha to put a call into Anya Suvarov so that she can get through to her husband, Yuri. Daniels smiles saying that's just about as likely the terrorists knocking on his door and surrendering. Buchanan knows and says they have a contingency: a siege plan on the Consulate to extract Markov. Daniels points out an assault on the Consulate is technically an act of war against Russia, and doesn't want another front with the Russians. Buchanan reasons that his responsibility is finding these nukes; Markov will not surrender willingly. Daniels asks how long it'll take to launch the strike. Doyle looks at his watch and tells Buchanan 20 minutes. Bill reiterates it to Daniels, who allows the strike. He says it's great for Logan if he is successful, but not for the strike team to wait on him. Daniels hangs up.

Buchanan asks Doyle if his team is ready. Doyle says yes so Bill orders his team to make first approach on the Consulate. Doyle acknowledges.

In the evening sun, private citizen Aaron Pierce carries groceries to Martha Logan's bungalow which is guarded by a Secret Service agent. Aaron gestures toward him in a respectful manner and goes inside. A picture of Aaron and Martha is seen as he walks in the room.

06:22:33

Martha sits down reading her book. He tells her he's home. She looks up as he walks toward her. Martha worries that Aaron shouldn't be driving around with all the nuclear fallout in the air. He asks what she was doing. Martha outlines what she's done all day: she read her book and listened to music. Aaron brought her magazines and fruit from Mel's which excites Martha. She eats some fruit and flirts with Aaron, giving him a strawberry to eat. Abruptly, the phone rings and Aaron answers it. It's Charles. Martha hasn't returned Logan's calls over the past two years so Aaron asks how she could help. He wants to talk with her and says it's concerns the nuclear attack. Logan doesn't care what Aaron thinks which angers Pierece saying he doesn't have to hear his sarcasm anymore. Logan tries to make amends, saying he's at CTU on government business. he gives the phone to her, but she refuses. When Logan says it's about the Suvarovs, Martha grabs the phone, asking how Anya is doing. Logan says they're fine, causing Martha to demand the reason for his call.

Logan wants Martha to help him to defuse an international incident. She deduces that the government came to Logan and he wasn't able to help, so now he's come to her. But Martha isn't willing to be drawn into another drama. She throws the phone away, saying this is absurd and walks toward the window. Aaron picks it up, and Charles says he'll be there in a few minutes. Pierce relents as Logan hangs up. Martha looks out the window, disturbed.

06:26:38, 06:26:39, 06:26:40

06:31:04
Split screen: Bauer securing his room with his gun and leaving; CTU helicopter ferrying Logan; Gredenko checking on his associates progress on the drones. 06:31:08.

Buchanan phones Logan on the chopper. The pilot directs the call to him. Buchanan is cautioning him about the plan to attack the Consulate. He'll need to persudae his ex-wife to contact the Suvarovs. Logan is confident that he can accomplish his mission.

Starring

 * Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer
 * Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe O'Brian
 * James Morrison as Bill Buchanan
 * Peter MacNicol as Tom Lennox
 * Carlo Rota as Morris O'Brian
 * Eric Balfour as Milo Pressman
 * Marisol Nichols as Nadia Yassir

Special guest stars

 * Powers Boothe as Vice President Noah Daniels
 * with Jean Smart as Martha Logan
 * and Gregory Itzin as Charles Logan

Guest starring

 * Glenn Morshower as Aaron Pierce
 * Nick Jameson as President Yuri Suvarov
 * Kari Matchett as Lisa Miller
 * Adoni Maropis as Abu Fayed
 * Rade Šerbedžija as Dmitri Gredenko
 * Scarlett Chorvat as Elena
 * Gideon Emery as Leon
 * Kathleen Gati as Anya Suvarov
 * John Noble as Anatoly Markov
 * Ajay Mehta as Ambassador
 * Boris Krutonog as Vasili
 * and Ricky Schroder as Mike Doyle

Co-starring

 * Lex Cassar as CTU Agent Ryan
 * James Ellis Lane as Medic #1
 * Lauten Richard Metcalfe as CTU Agent Shavers

Background information and notes

 * Series regulars DB Woodside, Jayne Atkinson, and Regina King do not appear in this episode, with King yet to appear since just before 1pm.
 * This episode marks the brief return of Jean Smart as Martha Logan and Glenn Morshower as Aaron Pierce, making him the only character other than Jack Bauer to have appeared in every season.
 * Ricky Schroder receives the "and" credit throughout the season.