The Jack Attack: LAD “9-10 PM”

In the penultimate episode of this Live Another Day season,  war between China and the US seems imminent unless Jack and Kate can recover Cheng and the override device.

Picking up with Jack and Kate still in a massive firefight with Russian thugs, they manage to hold them off until backup arrives and secures the area.  In a not unexpected but still convenient twist, main Russian baddie, Stolnavich, is working with Cheng to instigate the war, so that Russia can expand it’s influence unopposed.  Cheng sees Jack and Kate coming through CCTV cameras and pulls out, taking Chloe with him.  They also uncover the tracker, leaving Jack and Kate to stumble into a dead end.

Jack learns that the Russians tracked him using his comlink and that only the CIA and the White House, specifically Mark Boudreau, had access to that.  Jack realizes Mark set him up and goes to confront him and Mark confesses to Jack and Heller.  Heller initially wants Mark arrested for treason but Jack decides they can use him to get to Stolnavich and try to find Cheng’s location, so they set him up with audio and video and send him in try and get into Stolnavich’s house and gather intel on his security so that Jack and Kate can infiltrate and interrogate him.

Meanwhile, after an unsuccessful talk with the Chinese president, the Chinese forces seem to be gathering for an attack on Okinawa but Heller is trying to not have things escalate, refusing to raise the Defcon level despite the urgings of his generals.  Audrey believes she may have a way to get some evidence to China with an old friend and goes out to meet her.  Jack and Audrey have an emotional phone call where Audrey tells Jack to kill Cheng for everything he did to both of them and assures Jack that, despite everything, she’s never hated him.

Chloe, on route to the port as Cheng’s prisoner, manages to escape by using a tire iron to bash her way out but is knocked unconscious in the fall from the truck to the road.  Cheng’s men search for her but are interrupted by a convenient British military truck and leave Chloe in the woods.

Back at Stolnavich’s house, Mark manages to worm his way in and gets the info Jack and Kate need but Stolnavich realizes what is going on and attacks Mark.  In the struggle, they crash through a glass door and Stolnavich is fatally wounded by a giant shard of glass to his neck.  Jack and Kate manage to take out his security but are unable to stop Stolnavich from bleeding out.

Finally, Audrey meets her contact and gives her some vital intel on the override but she and Audrey’s security are killed by one of Cheng’s snipers and Audrey is now being held hostage in the crosshairs in a park.

• Bad Ass Bauer Moment of the Week: With an assist from Kate, Jack shoots a propane tank and catches a couple of Stolnavich’s men on fire in the opening shootout.
• “But what happens when the bullets start to fly?” “You’re gonna wanna stay low.”
• When Jack calls you an idiot, that’s when you really know you’ve screwed up.
• Heller’s generals catch him dropping his medication, which might cause them to question his judgement in the final hour.
• Chloe manages to trick Cheng by doing the old “pretend to fall” move to grab a cell phone.  Cheng catches her but she actually only did it to get the phone’s recording feature to record Cheng’s voice.