The Jack Attack: Hour 14
Things are moving toward the end game in this now final season of 24. Jack took a quick medical break but despite warnings of broken ribs and a collapsed lung, he quickly got back to work. Cole, meanwhile, was in pursuit of Samir and Tarin, who escaped with the rods in a cab. CTU had satellite coverage back and were on top of the terrorists until mole Dana crashed the system for 30 seconds, allowing the nefarious duo to blend into cab traffic.
The noticeably absent President Taylor returned this week after being evacuated to a military base in New Jersey. She was updated on the situation by Hastings and promised any and all resources to CTU. She then moved onto the business of getting Hassan evacuated from the UN. Because of the importance of the operation, she called Jack to have him personally escort Hassan and his family. Jack agreed and he and Renee headed out.
Samir and his men were getting ready for the final strike. The radiological dispersal device was set up and Tarin was taking over as driver for one of the men killed in last week’s dock shootout. Samir also demanded that Dana give him the layout of the NYPD roadblocks and she mentioned something about her employer. Samir then called Homeland Security Tim and demanded to speak with the President. President Taylor was in the middle of a national security briefing but took the call. Samir demanded that President Hassan be turned over to his group to face trial for his crimes against the IRK. President Taylor refused and Samir threatened that in one hour the dispersal device would be activated and 40 blocks of Manhattan would be contaminated. President Taylor still refused but Rob and some of the other council members were of the mind that giving up Hassan would be worth the cost to avoid thousands of American deaths. President Taylor delivered a speech that seemed to end the discussion but General Bruckner (played by That Guy who’s always a douche) offered Rob an alternative option. If Rob got the itinerary of Hassan’s evacuation then Bruckner would send in a “wet ops” team to kill everyone and deliver Hassan. It would seem like the terrorists ambushed the escort team and America wouldn’t lose face. Rob agreed and the pair broke into Ethan’s office to get the intinerary. Ethan interrupted them and tried to appeal to their senses. Bruckner blocked the door and Rob refused to cooperate. Ethan’s heart condition chose this moment to complicate matters and Ethan collapsed. Bruckner told Rob to not call medics because the the first thing Ethan would do would be to rat them out. Rob almost Sherry Palmered Ethan but did give him one pill, which didn’t seem to do much as Ethan was comatose for the rest of the episode.
Back at the UN, Jack and Renee met up with the Secret Service team and the group moved out. Jack recieved a call from Ethan but his attempts to call back were met with no answer. Jack grew suspicious and even more so when Rob answered one of Jack’s calls, acted pissy, and then hung up. The group was almost to their vehicles but Jack decided to turn back. It was too late however as the wet ops team attacked and killed most of the secret service team. Hassan’s security team and the female head of the secret service team held off the attackers while Jack and Renee moved the Hassans back down the tunnel. Not one’s to miss a good cliche, Kayla Hassan twisted her ankle and Jack and Renee had to make a stand against the wet ops team. President Hassan demanded a gun as well and Jack obliged and then threw out some smoke grenades to cover them. Jack and Renee took out the wet ops team fairly easily although the last man almost had Jack until Hassan got the assist. Jack captured one of the team members and learned it was Bruckner who sent them. Jack then led the group toward the surface so he could call President Taylor.
With the NYPD layout in hand, Tarin drove to a target area and, when Samir learned that President Taylor would not relent, he activated the device, which is set to go off in less than 15 minutes. We’ll have to find out if it does during next week’s double dose of 24.