24

12:02 P.M.-12:07 P.M.: While Jack and Rick escape, Gaines, Kevin, Neill and a couple other thugs pick themselves up after the explosion. Gaines orders Neill to take the Jeep and cut Jack off at the service road, while the others to come up behind him. Gaines jabs Kevin in the stomach with his rifle for letting this happen, refusing to hear any excuses he has to say. Rick tells Jack to go on without him, as he's in too much pain to continue and he's slowing him down.

Jack agrees that Rick is slowing them down and tells him to speed up. After a near brush with one of Gaines' men, they press on. Teri tries to follow Jack's route, but is forced to make a detour to avoid the thugs. When she uses the Palm Pilot to see which way is best to go, Kimberly states that it's not the way dad told them to go. Nina attempts to call Jack, but gets no answer. Tony comes to her with the results of some research he did: Gaines' compound was leased six months ago by a company that doesn't exist. Nina is too worried that something happened to Jack to think about that. Tony isn't worried, but Nina fears she should have listened to him, not Jack, and brought Alberta Green into the fold sooner. Nina apologizes to Tony for acting like such a martinet. Their conversation is broken up when Green walks over to say that she understands they're bringing in Jamey's mother. Nina tells her that's so she can pick up Kyle. Green wants them to grill the woman first, stating that the $300,000 was deposited in her bank account over the past four months.



12:07 P.M.-12:10 P.M.: Palmer's chauffeur is driving him and Mike back to the hotel. Palmer is on the warpath as he fills Mike in on his gameplan to first talk to Maureen, then go straight to the district attorney. Mike admonishes him to get the facts first. Palmer doesn't want to get the facts first, he just wants to give Maureen the story of her career. Mike recommends he tell Sherry before he tells anyone else. Gaines is on his cell phone with Drazen. Gaines' announcement that Jack showed up at the compound and he expects to have him back in custody soon pleases Drazen enough to think about giving him a second chance. Since Gaines wants to make good on his contract to kill Palmer, Drazen says they'll talk about that after he sees Jack's body. After they hang up, Kevin asks about Drazen. Gaines responds that if they don't kill Jack, Drazen will kill them. Kevin suggests that since he heard Jack phoning in some GPS coordinates and expects CTU backup to arrive any moment, perhaps they should cut their losses and beat it. Gaines knows it doesn't work like that. No matter where you go, they'll find you. So if they want to live, Jack< has to die.



12:10 P.M.-12:12 P.M.: Rick has opted to follow Jack. Jack leads the kid into the water tower, and wonders why Teri and Kimberly aren't there yet. He sits Rick down, assesses his damage, and tells him the bullet passed through his arm without hitting any bone or major arteries. He asks for some loose clothing to make a tourniquet, so Rick directs him to a bandanna in his back pocket. Teri makes Kimberly stop for a moment to check where they are. But even with the Palm Pilot, she has no idea what their location is. They're lost, but Teri doesn't want to admit it to her daughter.



12:16 P.M.-12:20 P.M.: Palmer and Mike are back at headquarters. The senator has decided to tell Sherry after all. It doesn't take her long to figure out that Mike agrees with her. Palmer still doesn't want her covering up one more thing than she already has. Meanwhile, she doesn't want him to turn his career and his family into a media circus, which is what will happen when Carl and his people get done hiding the evidence and twisting the truth. Sherry reminds him that he needs power to fight Carl -- the kind of power he'll have after he becomes president. Jack works himself up into a frenzy that Teri and Kimberly aren't in the tower. After confirming with Rick that this was where he told them to wait, he calls Green to tell her there's a new development and he needs to go back and find Teri and Kimberly. She asks him where to have the incoming team to pick them up. He gives her the description and general location of the tower, and requests that the team pick up Rick even if he's not there when they arrive. After Jack ends the call, Rick thanks him. Jack says to thank Kimberly instead. Rick is apologetic over what happened, and attempts to pin the blame on Dan. That doesn't satisfy Jack, who feels Rick should have done something when he saw what was happening. Rick rudely blurts out that Dan was his friend. And Kimberly is Jack's daughter. Before he leaves, Jack has a fatherly chat with Rick about accepting responsibility when presented with a second chance.



12:20 P.M.-12:24 P.M.: Teri thinks she knows where they are now. She and Kimberly have another close call when they see Neill and another guy in the distance. They dodge the thugs and duck inside an abandoned cabin. Teri is forced to draw her gun, because Neill has ducked inside himself. Just as he's about to come face to face with the women, Gaines' voice comes over his walkie-talkie, telling everyone to convene in a new location. After Neill exits, Teri says to Kimberly that they wait until the coast is clear, then make a run for it. Her digestive track gets the better of her again, but before Kimberly can do anything, she cries out, as she spotted Neill's face peeking in from a slat in the wall. Just when it seems the ladies have met their end, Jack comes to their rescue, and pumps a few rounds at Neill from outside. Jack's gunfire eventually connects, sending Neill right through the cabin wall. Jack uses the entryway Neill has created to come in and see if Teri and Kimberly are alright. Gaines, who heard the gunshots, gets on Neill's walkie-talkie again to find out who was shooting and where they are. Jack tells his family they have to get out now. Kimberly asks where Rick is. Jack says he's waiting for them at the water tower, which is where they need to be ASAP. After checking to make sure no one else is around, he leads them back out into the woods.



12:29 P.M.-12:31 P.M.: Jamey's mother, Ms. Vasquez, is at CTU, tearily looking through photos of her daughter that are part of the belongings she has come to claim. Nina and Tony enter the room where she's waiting. An angry Vasquez wants to know where Kyle is. Nina tells her she can get him in a bit, but first they would like to ask her some questions. Vasquez would like to ask them a few questions too: for starters, how could they let Jamey bleed to death and not do anything to help her. Tony offers a perfunctory apology, but swears they did try. Vasquez is too mad to answer their questions; instead, she grabs a box of Jamey's belongings and begins to walk out. Tony stops her to lay down the law about how Jamey was a traitor who confessed. He warns her that she could be tried as an accomplice, leaving Kyle with no one to take care of him. After sobbing quietly, Vasquez puts the box down on Jamey's desk, and asks them what they want to know. Nina shows her the records that indicate she makes $45,000 a year, yet she has an account in her name with $400,000 in it. Vasquez says it was from Jamey for Kyle in case something happened to her. Tony wonders where Jamey got the money, but Vasquez says she never asked. He's a little steamed that she never asked, and warns her not to screw up at a time when Kyle needs her most.



12:31 P.M.-12:35 P.M.: Gaines repeatedly tries to get through to Neill and another guy, Maxton, over the walkie-talkie. Maxton finally gets on to say where they are and how they're meeting up with another group in hopes of cutting Jack off at the service road. Jack still holds Neill's walkie-talkie, monitoring the men's movements to stay a step ahead of them. Jack has Teri give him the Palm Pilot to scope out new locations. When Gaines asks Maxton where Neill is, Maxton tells him he split off to the northeast side of the creek. With Maxton's directions and the Palm Pilot, Jack is able to pinpoint the best escape route. Palmer bangs on Maureen's hotel room door, demanding to be let in. After a pause, Maureen takes a break from packing her suitcase to open for him. The annoyed senator asks why she's shutting him out. The equally annoyed reporter doesn't think they have anything more to say to each other, but lets him in anyway. He says he no longer wants her to sit on the story, because Ferragamo is dead. After saying it, he realizes she already knew. Her announcement that she's quit her reporting job shocks him, but he has no intention of heeding her advice to follow her lead and back off. At first he figures Carl's people bought her out, but when she ignores him to continue packing, it hits him that they threatened her. Palmer changes his tune to concern and promises Maureen protection, but she considers her resignation her protection. When he blasts her for covering this up, she takes Mike's stance -- these people are too powerful, and they've already covered the evidence up. On the verge of tears, Maureen apologizes.



12:35 P.M.-12:36 P.M.: Gaines and Kevin find Neill's body. Kevin searches it, and notices Neill's walkie-talkie is gone. Now Gaines knows Jack has heard everything. After Vasquez leaves, Tony and Nina check her files on the computer. The cash was transferred from a place called Luca Univox in Belgrade. When Nina says Jack did an assignment in Belgrade, Tony asks her to look through the mission files to see if there's a connection. Jack has led Teri and Kimberly safely to the creek, but the chopper that CTU was supposed to send is not there. As the three are crouched down in panic, Jack attempts to call in over the Palm Pilot, but can't get a signal. Kimberly asks about Rick again. Jack says he was wounded, so he made him wait in the water tower until the chopper arrives. Kimberly doesn't feel like waiting herself, and stands up, figuring no one else is around. However, Gaines is around, and very nearly hits her with his sniper rifle. Jack rushes the women to a new hiding spot behind a bush, and tells them not to move until the chopper gets there. A frightened Teri asks where he's going. His reply is the last thing she wanted to hear: "He wants me."



12:41 P.M.-12:43 P.M.: In the woods, Gaines and Kevin take aim at Jack, who's playing cat and mouse with them. Gaines up right away what Jack is trying to do, so he has Kevin circle around to the other side of the tree where Jack's hiding. Meantime, he gets on the walkie-talkie to taunt Jack about what kind of shooting range he has from behind a tree. After the two of them make some small talk and Kevin fires off a couple of missed shots, the chopper arrives.



12:43 P.M.-12:47 P.M.: Instead of taking Maureen's advice, Palmer has chosen to tell the DA. Mike and his men escort the senator to Carl's room, so he can rub it in. Carl smugly pleads his case by letting Palmer know how much his services could be needed, and how great a team they used to make. When Palmer doesn't buy his ploy, Carl instead hits him where it counts -- he hints that he planted evidence that would frame Keith for Ferragamo's murder. Palmer roughs him up in a rage, but all Carl can say to that is the people they both work for know how to get what they want. After Carl walks off, Mike queries Palmer as to what they were talking about, and says the DA is waiting. Palmer asks him to tell the DA he's sorry, he made a mistake. When Mike is understandably confused, Palmer replies that he intends to win the presidency.



12:51 P.M.-12:57 P.M.: Teri and Kimberly flag down the CTU chopper. After it lands, some commandos get out, one of whom orders Teri to drop her weapon and for both women to put their hands in the air. One commando asks if Teri is Mrs. Bauer, and tells her and Kimberly to put their hands down when she says yes. Teri replies that they're both fine, but Jack needs their help. She points the general direction of where he went, and some other commandos head off to find him while she and Kimberly are being escorted into the chopper. Kimberly misses Rick, and runs to the water tower to retrieve him. Teri chases after her headstrong daughter into the tower, and tries to calm her down when Kimberly worriedly wonders why Rick isn't where he was supposed to be. When she plans to go look for him, Teri says that she and her father need her now more than Rick does. Meanwhile, Rick is walking through the trees down an embankment.

Jack gets on the walkie-talkie to taunt Gaines about how he's losing blood from his wounds. Jack makes an attempt to appeal to Gaines' humanity by suggesting that perhaps neither one of them has to die. Since Gaines doesn't have that option, Jack hopes he can at least tell him what's going on. He brings up Cofell and Belgrade in hopes of learning the connection, but Gaines doesn't know any more than he does. Jack asks why his family were brought into it. Gaines replies that they wanted to make it personal. Jack doesn't know who "they" are, but then it doesn't really matter since he's found Gaines before Gaines finds him. With his gun pointed squarely at Gaines' back, Jack orders him to put down his weapon, in promise of protection. Gaines knows CTU can't protect him, so he doesn't put the weapon. Instead, he stands up, pauses, then wishes Jack good luck as he turns around and quickly opens fire. But not quick enough for Jack, who blows him away. Gaines' body doesn't have much time to cool before the commandos show up, ordering Jack to drop his weapon and put his hands behind his head. Jack does as told, and the commando calls in on his radio that he's got Jack and there's another man down. A very bloody Rick is waiting at the bus stop with some other people. The bus pulls up, he gets on board and takes a seat in the back.



12:57 P.M.-1:00 P.M.: Teri and Kimberly are waiting in the water tower. Jack dashes inside, and the three embrace that he's alive. The chopper is ready to bring them in, so Jack helps the ladies board. As it takes off, Rick is heading to his own destination and Mike is bringing Palmer back to his hotel room, stunning Sherry in the process. Over at CTU, Green tells Nina that Jack and his family have been rescued and will be there in a few minutes. Nina has used a lead Vasquez gave them to unravel another piece of the puzzle, one which necessitates the threat on Palmer being upgraded. After back-tracing the funds to Belgrade, she and Tony discovered the same account shows a transfer to an assassin there, a person who left Yugoslavia this morning. There's a second hitter, and he's in Los Angeles right now.

Tick, tick, tick...