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Assad pulls up and Jack hops in. Assad confirms that Fayed's handler is in a car ahead of them.

Fayed calls his man and says there's a change, saying he needs to make a stop in Newhall before he comes back.

Bill updates Wayne on the casualties from the bombings around the country. Bill tells Wayne that Jack averted the subway bombing in L.A. Wayne asks if anyone has talked to him, but Wayne says Jack went dark since no one listened to him about Assad earlier. Wayne feels some appropriate guilt, when he receives a scrambled call from Fayed. Fayed tells Wayne that he is willing to stop the attacks if Wayne meets his demands. Wayne is skeptical, since Fayed tricked them in the first place, but Fayed knows they have no choice. Fayed demands that the U.S. release 110 "freedom fighters" from the Palmdale Military Facility in L.A. Wayne tries to protest, but Fayed isn't having it.

Wayne orders Bill to contact Palmdale and see what has to happen for a mass prisoner release. Both Karen and Lennox urge Wayne to reconsider, since they know this isn't Fayed's end game, but Wayne wants to buy more time so they can try and find Fayed.

Jack worries that Fayed's man is hitting thinner traffic, which means it will be more difficult for them to conceal themselves as they follow him. Jack wants to call CTU to get aid with satellite coverage, but Assad refuses, saying he will not work with his enemies. "You're working with one now," Jack retorts. Jack tells Assad that if he's serious about disarming, he has to compromise and cooperate with CTU. Assad relents and Jack calls Chloe, who is in the middle of breaking up another verbal scuffle between Morris and Milo. She patches him through to Bill, who updates him on the situation. Bill tells Jack about Fayed's demand as Chloe pulls up satellite coverage, which will take 10 minutes. Jack will have to figure out another way to track the handler. Bill dispatches Curtis's team to meet Jack. Curtis is disquieted when he learns Jack is cooperating with Assad.

Jack carjacks an innocent driver and speeds off in his jeep. Assad is still tailing the handler when jack's jeep comes screaming out of nowhere and sideswipes the handler's car, running him into another parked car. Jack jumps out and starts bellowing at the guy. The handler looks intimidated, when Assad walks up and says he saw the whole thing. He blames Jack for the accident and Jack lets a little racism creep into his manners. Then, with a hardy, "screw you!" he speeds off. Assad tells the handler he got Jack's license number. The handler is pissed because he can't wait for the police. Assad asks him where he's going and the handler tells him, Newhall. Assad offers to give him a lift and the handler gratefully agrees. As the handler unloads stuff from his totaled car, Assad dials his cell phone, leaves it on and drops it in the pocket of his car door. The handler gets in and they drive off.

Jack's phone rings and he answers, hearing Assad's casual banter with the handler. He mutes his phone, then calls Bill and transfers him into the call so they can all track Assad. Assad mentions Newhall and Bill orders Chloe to pull up coverage for that area, then sets up assault perimeters.

One of Fayed's men tells him they are detecting increased activity around Palmdale. His man says they still don't have the component, but Fayed assures him that Ahmed is on his way to pick it up.

Ahmed hustles Scott into the Wallace home at gunpoint, then orders Jillian to call Ray to the living room. Ahmed orders Jillian to get medical supplies for his wound, then orders Ray and Scott to sit on the couch. Jillian returns with bandages and Ahmed orders her to patch his wound, but she can't stop the bleeding because the wound is too deep. Ahmed tells Ray to take the package and go pick up an item for him. Ray finds his delivery address in Ahmed's bag. Ahmed assures him that he'll kill his wife and son if he calls the police.

Chloe calls Curtis, who tells her he's five minutes away from Jack. Chloe tells Morris to chill out in his feud with Milo.

Karen updates Wayne on Jack's operation with Assad. She asks if he still wants to go through with the prisoner release. Wayne says he has no choice and tells her to order the guards to start loading the buses.

Assad says the name of the road they are traveling on aloud and Chloe pulls it up on satellite. Jack meets up with Curtis and they monitor the car on the cell phone GPS. Curtis tells Jack it's good to see him again. He asks Jack if it bothers him working with Assad; a terrorist responsible for taking hundreds of innocent lives in the past 20 years. Jack says the playing field has changed, but Curtis feels it doesn't change Assad's past. Curtis feels Assad should be punished for his actions. "It's not our call," Jack says. "We'll see," Curtis says ominously.

Ahmed orders Scott to get some pain-killers and water from the kitchen. As Scott fills the glass, he pockets a knife from the sink. He goes back to Ahmed and gives him the meds, but can't work up the nerve to stab him.

At Palmdale, the guards hurry the jump-suited prisoners into lines and start to load them on to the buses. As Wayne watches the process from the Oval Office, Lennox comes in and tells him about Sandra's arrest for the destruction of the IAA files. Lennox tells Wayne that Sandra is being held at a provisional detention facility. Wayne angrily grabs his phone and starts dialing.

At the Anacostia Detention Facility, Sandra and Walid are driven past a group of picketers holding signs. They are unloaded and Sandra apologizes to Walid for getting him into this mess, but Walid defends her actions. The two are separated and Sandra is uncuffed, then handed a cell phone. Wayne comes on the line and blasts her for making a political statement during this bloody day. Sandra asks Wayne to release Walid, but Wayne refuses and tells her that she's free to go home. She demands to speak to Walid, but the head FBI agent refuses, saying that he's being held under the revised enemy combatant statute.

Walid spots an Arab man being mussed up by an agent. Walid intervenes and gets slugged in the ribs for his trouble. Walid is ordered to be taken to interrogation as the Arab man for whom he stuck his neck out looks on.

As Assad continues to make not-so-casual chatter with the handler, Jack and Curtis pursue and form a capture strategy. Assad drops him off and turns around. Chloe spots the handler on satellite. Jack and Curtis pull up and Jack orders Curtis to set up a moving perimeter. Curtis starts to show hostility toward Assad, demanding that another agent search him for weapons. "Do I know you," Assad asks Curtis. "No, but I know you," Curtis responds as he storms off. Jack whispers to Assad that he'll take care of things.

Chloe examines the building that the handler enters and determines that it is a storage facility. The handler unlocks a garage and enters as CTU agents surround the area. One agent reports that he can see the handler as he enters the garage, which is full of wooden boxes. Jack realizes this is a dead drop and that Fayed is not here. Listening over com, Bill tells Jack they'll have to pick up the handler and make him talk. Curtis and his men move in quietly, but not quietly enough. The handler is taking a laptop out of a case when he hears a noise, looks up and sees a helmet on the nearby roof. He pulls a gun from his briefcase and opens fire. CTU returns fire and the handler takes cover, then jumps up with a grenade. Jack pulls Curtis into a doorway as the entire storage garage explodes in a fiery blast. Jack rushes in among the burning debris and finds the laptop, but it is too badly damaged to offer much hope.

As Wayne continues to watch the Palmdale feed, Bill calls him and tells him that their lead to Fayed is dead. Lennox says that they are awaiting Wayne's order regarding the prisoners. After a moment of thought, Wayne orders the prisoners loaded on to the plane. The head guard orders the prisoners to go single file on board the plane as a Sergeant makes the count. Once the prisoners are all loaded, the buses pull away, but a single prisoner in an orange suit hides in back of the bus.

Ray arrives at the address and finds his contact in a back room full of boxes. Ray hands him the package and the guy, Marcus, opens it. The package is full of cash, but Marcus claims it's not enough. He says the component cost him more than he expected and he needs another 50 thousand. Ray is desperate, claiming he has no more money, but Marcus blows him off. Ray uses his phone to call Ahmed, but Ahmed says there is no more money and that Ray needs to do whatever it takes to get the item. Ray hangs up and tells Marcus he'll get the money, but he wants to make sure that Marcus has the item first. Marcus shows him a box full of electronics. As Marcus turns his back to replace the box on the shelf, Ray grabs a lamp and smashes it over Marcus's head. Marcus goes down, but rebounds and grabs for a gun. Ray knocks it out of his hand and throws Marcus to the floor, then punches him in the face. Marcus tries to struggle and Ray channels some Tony Soprano, bashing Marcus's brains out on the cement floor. Marcus quits struggling and Ray starts to collect the component.

Chloe tells Jack the hard drive is mostly toast, but she was able to retrieve a part of a wiring schematic, mostly in Russian. Curtis brings Assad and jack asks him if he knows what it is. Assad says it's a list of electronic components, including a detonator for a nuclear device. Curtis angrily grabs Assad, believing he knew about the nuke all along. Jack pulls Curtis off and Assad tells him there is a reference file at the bottom of the page. Nadia recognizes it as a compact bomb that the Russians made in the late '80's. They believed that the Russians had destroyed all of them, but there were rumors that one bomb was diverted to a scientist with terrorist connections. They pull up a photo of the scientist and discover that he was one of the terrorists being released from the Palmdale Facility. Assad realizes Fayed planned this all along, using the suicide bombings as a strategy to force the U.S. to release the scientist. Bill orders his men to start searching the prisoners on the plane for the suspect.

The head guard has the photo and orders the prisoner to raise his hand, but no one responds. The guard orders his men to search the entire plane. Meanwhile, the prisoner in the orange suit is let out of the back of the bus by a guard, who tells him Fayed is waiting. The prisoner runs past the dead body of the bus driver as he makes his escape. Tick, tick, tick...