EPISODE 16

EPISODE 16

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 7AM AND 8AM BRITISH TIME (1AM TO 2AM CENTRAL DAYLIGHT TIME)

HOUSTON, TEXAS

Ilya took out his cell phone and called Grigory, who was in the parking lot smoking a cigarette. “Someone is after us, they killed Misha.”
“What?” Grigory exclaimed, spitting out his cigarette and nervously looking around the parking lot and making his way toward the closest overhang from the motel, trying to avoid the lights of the strip mall and movie theater nearby. “How? Who did it?”
“He was shot in the head. This was clearly a professional hit.”
“Damn it, the Americans double crossed us!”
Vassily grabbed the phone and said after some quick thinking, “I don’t think so. This is America, they wouldn’t do things this way. They will arrest us and put us on trial and then execute us. Grigory? Grigory?”

Grigory saw one of the gunmen raise his weapon and he fired several silenced. shots, missing, the bullets ricocheting off of the metal of the stairwell. “Someone is after me,” Grigory finally said into the phone, “I’m on the McDonald’s side of the motel.”
Vassily and Ilya drew their weapons and rushed through an opening separating two sets of rooms on the second floor and went in separate directions. One of the Chinese gunmen saw Vassily and fired off several shots, but Vassily ducked behind a corner and the shots went past, shattering a Coke machine and sending an avalanche of aluminum soda cans clanging onto the cement walkway. Lights began coming on and several guests cursed.

“You idiot, I told you to be quiet,” one of the Chinese men said to his partner in Chinese before reloading. Grigory jumped up from behind a parked SUV and fired more shots, killing one of the Chinese men. The other Chinese agent turned around to respond and Vassily and Ilya simultaneously shot him three times each, the man falling against a parked car and then sliding to the ground. In the distance, they could hear the sounds of sirens as police with flashing lights approached the motel complex.

MI6/CTU/LONDON

A split screen showed an analyst with the CD-ROM from the package Clyde had given to Jane Saunders, then showed Jack and Clyde talking, then Jake Francis on a street corner.
“I just ran a search for Jasper Mulligan,” Chloe said. “Jahah’s info checks out. He’s a suspected member of Celtic Cross, studied in Stuttgart, Germany the same time as Abu Jahah.”
“I know who he is,” Clyde replied, “He’s responsible for a lot of the money laundering and cyberattacks conducted by Celtic Cross. He works for WebGuards, ironically, a company specializing in anti-virus software based in Spitalfields just east of the city center.” A screen in the background showed a map of the Spitalfields area of the city and zoomed in on a mid-rise brick structure in a neighborhood of mixed modern and historical architecture.

“Makes perfect sense, actually,” Chloe said one of her signature scowls, “These companies need viruses or else who would buy their products?”
Jack ignored her and asked his father, “So how are we going to go about finding this man? I’ve dealt with people like him my entire career, he’s probably has other moles inside the company as well as men stationed around the building, especially if the terrorists’ main attack is to occur today or tomorrow.

At MI6, Walter Brooks walked onto the main floor and approached the technician whose desk the CD-ROM is sitting on, along with Jane Saunders.
“Checked this out yet? The information from Clyde?”
“Not yet,” the man said, “We’re still running surveillance on suspected target areas and coordinating fields teams with the Irish government.”
“Try to get to it within the hour,” Brooks said, “We believe Celtic Cross is the primary threat now and that the Mesopotamia Jihad is handing over the operation to them.”
The man nodded and said, “I’ll get to it.”

Brooks and Jane walked up a set of stairs to another area with computers and desks. “What did the Irish government say?” Jane asked.
“They’ve given us our full cooperation. That’s not much though, given that McCourt has always been based in Belfast and not the Republic. Our friends in Dublin are as pissed as we are about what happened with the stolen weapons but they’re not really the ones to blame.”
“McCourt’s as hated in Ireland as he is here. Just one misguided fanatic,” Jane said.
“But he does have control of the Carsolia virus, the anthrax, and now the neutron bomb.”

HOUSTON

Vassily and Ilya sped down Katy Freeway as the police units pulled into the motel parking lot and officers took up positions around the building, with many guests opening their doors and looking at the commotion there.
Ilya began operating the car’s GPS system. “What is the address of our consulate?” he asked in Russian.
“I don’t know. Just call somebody and find out, it won’t matter if they trace this call, the Americans will know soon enough anyway, no less than twenty people saw us back there. We need to get to Russian soil to be safe.”

HOBBY AIRPORT

“Agent Edmunds, we’re about to land so just make sure your seat belts are secure,” the co-pilot said as he stuck his door from the cockpit out into the spacious cabin on this private CTU flight. He nodded.
“Wow,” Angela said in her childish voice as she stared out the window as the plane made a quick descent through the cloud cover over the dazzlingly sea of lights that seemed to spread forever.
Chase’s phone rang as the jet passed near the gigantic office towers of Houston’s central skyscraper district before approaching the airport.
“What do you have for me, Agent Pierce?”

Pierce was sitting in a mobile Secret Service command unit parked on the hotel grounds at the Marriott Renaissance Greenway Plaza, where the President and VP were staying.
“We’ve been in contact with the Russian government and they’ve been very cooperative after Logan’s treaty. Misha and three other associates were known to have formed a mercenary team since they were discharged following the Chechnya war. They’ve worked in the U.S. before in New York for various criminal outfits though most of their operations have been in Europe.”
“Any idea who hired them?”

The plane’s wheels touched down and they could see the scenery of Hobby airport and the large crowd of protestors from the airline unions and other industries lined up on the tarmac.
“I know you expected this to be a routine assignment but this doesn’t look good, Chase,” Pierce said. Pierce knew Chase wasn’t too happy being assigned here rather than Europe.
“Tell me about it,” he said.
“Misha was found dead after a major shootout at a Days Inn motel in the suburbs where he and the others were staying. Another Russian mercenary was also dead on the scene, as well as two Chinese men. Local police and FBI are still trying to identify the Chinese bodies, but Misha’s death was a professional hit, no doubt about it.”
“My God,” Chase said.
“What’s the matter, dear?” Kim asked.

Chase motioned for her to hold on and said to Pierce, “You’re telling me the Chinese hired these people to assassinate Sunbelt Airlines’ main attorney to help sabotage Sunbelt’s defense against the takeover deal?”
“That’s what it goods like,” Pierce replied. “There’s more. Two of the other members of the mercenary team have fled the motel and the FBI is looking for them. I have a car ready for you to take you to the President’s hotel where we’re coordinating things from.”
“Okay, keep me updated,” Chase replied.
He turned to Kim. “It’s ok baby, this is an investigation, not a field op. No undercover or whatever.”

LONDON STREETS and WEBGUARD HEADQUARTERS

“Clyde, nice to hear your voice,” Jasper said in his Irish accent in his window office with a slightly distant view of Big Ben.
“I’m on my way to your office,” Clyde said, “I need to talk to you. The British are further along in their operation than we expected. We may need to make changes in our plans.”
“What? I covered my tracks perfectly. They can’t link me to…”
“It’s not safe to discuss this over the phone. Cancel any appointments you have today. Once we accomplish our mission you won’t have clients anymore,” Clyde said, faking a good evil laugh.

“I’m also bringing someone else. My son. He’s also a soldier of Eire and committed to our glorious cause and his heart yearns to spill some English blood in the name of our people.”
Jasper stared out the window. “How capable is he?”
“He was trained in the U.S. military,” Clyde replied, “He’s served in Afghanistan.”
“Good. I’m only allowing this because it’s you, Clyde. You’ve been a great soldier to our cause, and it will be an honor for us to share our victory with your son. It is refreshing to hear of such people how that Ireland’s young people care nothing for the struggle and have forgotten their history.”
“Well, today we will remind them,” Clyde replied. “Because we haven’t forgotten.”

HOUSTON

Vassily cursed in Russian as he saw several police cars turn onto Katy Freeway from behind and begin speed up with sirens blaring.
A cop floored his accelerator and two others followed him. “This is Unit 56, we have the suspects in a Ford Taurus heading west on Katy Freeway.”
“Got, it, dispatching backup,” the dispatcher said.

Vassily saw another line of police cars setting up a roadblock several blocks ahead on this wide suburban highway. The Russian made a sharp right into a parking lot of a major mall, the left wheels going in midair for a while. They swerved to avoid a mall security car and sped through a parking garage.

“Suspects are inside the Westfield Shopping Center, going through the Macy’s garage.”

Chase heard the conversations from his Secret Service vehicle. “I need to be patched through to the FBI field office,” he said to the Secret Service dispatcher.

Vassily slammed on the brakes as he saw another vehicle, a Yukon, coming quickly at him but it was too late. He scraped the other vehicle and the Ford plowed through some bushes and into then smashed the side of a Toyota sedan.
“What the hell?” the man driving the Yukon said, getting out of his car. Ilya raised his gun and Vassily grabbed his hand, the bullet flying up into the ceiling. Ilya cursed in Russian and Vassily said to the man. “I’m taking your car, and if you make any wrong moves I will let my friend shoot you.”
The man quickly nodded as the Russians stole his vehicle and drove away.

“This is dispatch. We have FBI units converging on the south side of the Regal Cinemas 15 and more by the food court entrance. No sign of them yet.”

CHINESE CONSULATE, HOUSTON

“We lost contact with the men we sent to kill the mercenaries,” Consul Kwan Ming said on the phone to Cheng Zhi.
“What do you mean? You told me you had the best people. You said they are from the People’s Liberation Army.”
“We could not send a larger team or the Americans would have suspected us,” Kwan replied. “The Russians are also ex-military.”
“If the Americans capture them it will be a disaster for us. They will tell the Americans about Richard Heller and then the Americans will have additional leverage against us. If that happens, capturing Jack Bauer will no longer help us.”

KHABAVORSK, RUSSIA

“Cheng, you snake,” General Bylov breathed.
“Moscow will not like this,” the young Russian technician said, “We just happened to find out Cheng Zhi is blackmailing the Americans using Jack Bauer AND that China has hired OUR mercenaries to murder people on American soil.”
“I want you to forward everything to Moscow, they will handle it,” Bylov said.

HOUSTON

“Suspects have stolen a Yukon, Texas plates 56YUT, they’re at the edge of the mall going past the Outback Steakhouse.”

Vassily cursed again as he saw even more police cars emerging. It seemed the night was filled with the flashing blue and red lights.
“This GPS is useless!” Ilya cried. “It was all Misha’s fault, he suggested we take this job. Here we are in this city we know nothing about. We’ve never operated in a crazy environment like this.”
They were used to operating in urban environments like New York and Western Europe, where there were many alleyways and hiding places, not in American suburbia with its wide open streets and parking lots.
Vassily showed some relief as he saw a Greyhound bus pulling into a Texaco gas station and he sped up, going across six lanes of traffic on another busy roadway and nearly causing an accident.

Vassily nodded to Ilya and the two Russian drew their weapons and ran across the blinding fluorescent lights of the pump area, reaching the bus.
The driver looked up from his newspaper. “I don’t think you two were…”
Ilya pointed the gun at him as Vassily boarded. “Start driving or I will kill you.”
The driver nodded and Vassily fired several shots into the ceiling, causing the passengers to scream. “If you attempt to make any dumb moves, you will be killed,” he said. “If you cooperate with us you will have a chance to make it out alive.”
The police units arrived at the gas station and surrounded it.

WEBGUARD HQ, LONDON and LONDON STREETS

Jasper was visibly upset as he closed the door behind him once Clyde and Jack were in his office overlooking a sky that was now cloudy and drizzling.
“Dammit, Clyde, we’ve planned forever for this day,” Jasper said, then turned to Jack Bauer and added, “Bierko and Kingsley had a year to take advantage of the situations presented to them, Marwan spent six years setting up his plot. We started from scratch, and I’ve been waiting for this day since Good Friday thirteen years ago when the rest of Ulster liberation movement sold us out.”
“The British know nothing about where the bomb is,” Jack replied, “Victory is still within our grasp.”

“But I was not expecting this trouble,” Jasper replied as he closed the blinds as the raindrops pelted the window.
“Nothing goes perfectly in our line of work,” Clyde replied, “But we shall proceed with the plan. However in order to protect my cover inside MI6 it is imperative that you abort the release of the virus.”
“What?” Jasper asked.
“MI6 is suspecting a mole already,” Clyde lied, “And they know they will be targeted because of Abu Jahah talking to the Americans. CTU has forwarded the information to MI6 and both agencies are taking measures to track any virus that is released.”

Wu spoke in Chinese into his Blackberry, “We have Bauer and his father inside a building in the Spitalfields area.”
Excellent,” Cheng Zhi replied from China, “Make sure our embassy is ready for his visit. This time, it will be our terms.”
Cheng gave out a slight evil chuckle and hung up.
Wu went into the back of an unmarked minivan and barked orders in Chinese, motioning for his men to set up positions and looking at a London map with the Chinese Embassy circled.

The MI6 programmer opened the CD case and took out the CD, preparing to insert it into the computer when Jane Saunders walked up.
“Randy, Director Brooks wants an update on our intelligence operations in France,” she said.

The programmer changed windows and told her, “Tell him that we and CTU are still working on that, though the worst of the rioting is over. I do know that we are providing intel for French military forces who have moved into Paris from Dijon and southern France. They need more ground intel before they plan their assault on the suburbs where the insurrection began. We still don’t’ know where Yaffa Abbas is but we believe their endgame is over.”
Jane nodded and replied, “Ok, good. Confirm with CTU the joint briefing in twenty minutes.”
“Got it,” the programmer replied and inserted the disk into the CD drive.

“I don’t have control of the virus,” Jasper Mulligan said finally.
“We need to find the person who does,” Jack replied, “My father is right. Sacrificing this attack is nothing compared to what we will accomplish. The British dogs are afraid of us, they know that the blood of Ulster boils for our victory and that they cannot stop the inevitable liberation of Eire. They will grant us our freedom…”

“But releasing the virus will greatly hamper their investigation,” Jasper began.
“There is no investigation to speak of as of now,” Clyde replied, “Even I have not been made aware of where the virus is, even Jake, Frankie’s own nephew does not know it. There is no way for the accursed enemy to know nor any way to find out. The possibility of them saving a few lives after we use the bomb will not reassure them much. They WILL surrender to our demands unless they find the bomb, which they won’t.”

“I gave the virus to MI6 through you, through the package that was supposed to contain information about our plans,” Jasper replied, “The CD-ROM contains it and once its uploaded MI6’s systems will be fully infected as will be CTU, and then it will perpetuate itself throughout the British government and security networks. This version will also affect all military and defense contractors in Britain.”
Clyde immediately snatched his phone from his pocket.
“This is Saunders,” Jane replied.
“Jane, I need you to find out who has the CD in the package I got from the terrorists. That CD must be secured immediately. “

Jane looked around and remembered seeing it on Randy’s desk. She started running over as a new screen popped up on Randy’s computer asking him if he wants to run the program. “Randy!”
He looked up at her in a puzzled fashion and clicked the “Yes” button.
“Don’t run that CD!”
“I already clicked…”
Jane cursed and made it to his workstation. “Disconnect this machine immediately, before the virus corrupts our entire system.”
“The virus is here?” Randy asked incredulously as Jane disconnected the power to his computer and grabbed the CPU, laying it on its side.

Jane ignored him and slammed her foot down into the machine as Randy initiated a shutdown of the line of workstations nearest him, several analysts looking up in shock.
“That was a close call,” Jane breathed, sweating as she let her beautiful dark hair hang down in front of her face, exhausted. “We need to initiate a restart of our central systems to make sure everything is running smoothly.”
The staff nodded and got to work, one man going into the main server room and typing in a secure code.

HOUSTON, TEXAS

“This is Kyle Sigmund, head of the FBI Houston field office,” the voice in the phone said to Vassily. The Russian mercenaries looked at the lines of flashing lights outside and saw the SWAT vehicle parked in the distance and several FBI agents with helmets and body armor.
“I know you do not mean that,” Vassily said in his Russian accent. “I know your intention is to take us into custody either through force or our surrender with no harm to the hostages.”

Sigmund turned to the HRT (hostage rescue team) leader in their makeshift command post in the parking lot in front of a CVS store across Katy Freeway from the Texaco gas station.
“This ain’t good, Alex,” Sigmund said, “These people are thinking logically and they still pulled this off. No way to talk them out of it.”
Sigmund got back on the line with Vassily and asked, “What do you want?”

Vassily made sure Sigmund heard the screams of the passengers then ordered them to be quiet. “There are thirty three hostages on this bus, Agent Sigmund,” he said, “If you do not do exactly as I tell you to, your entire nation will watch them executed one by one.”
Ilya spoke to him in Russian, “We should make the demands about speaking to the President. Make the Americans realize the truth about Richard.”
“They’ll never believe it, you imbecile, we must protect ourselves first,” Vassily replied in their native language before switching to English and talking to Sigmund.
“Is that clear to you?”

“Very clear,” Sigmund replied, “What are your demands?”
“I will be ordering the driver of this bus to take us to the consulate of Russia in this city. The hostages will be released once the bus and ourselves are on Russian soil inside the consulate grounds. Before then, if I see any police units or suspect anything along the way, I will start shooting these people.”
Sigmund cursed under his breath and turned to Alex. “Tell our teams to back down.”
Alex gave the order and the police and FBI agents and vehicles began pulling away from the gas station.

CTU

“MI6 lost limited intel but the infected workstation was disconnected in time,” Chloe replied, “With damage limited to the immediate row of computers. Their backup files should be sufficient to repair the damage.”
Bill Buchanan nodded and replied, “Good. I need to talk to Jack and Clyde to see how close they are to finding the bomb.”

HOBBY AIRPORT

Suz Novick gently rubbed the shoulder of a fellow flight attendant, a woman in her late 20s like Suz with curly brown hair as they sat alone in the Sunbelt Airlines employees lounge as the news coverage continued on the TV turned to CNN behind them. Her pin identified her as Molly.
“….despite phenomenal growth following its merger with Charlotte-based New South Airways, Southeast executives in Florida today hinted it is unlikely for them to match the new 17 billion bid by Air China,” the anchor was saying.
The next screen introduced an economist saying, “…a government-owned company, Air China has unlimited monetary resources straight from the Communist Party coffers…”

“I’m not like you, Suz,” Molly said, lowering the volume a bit on the TV, “I know they won’t fire you when they take over, but I’ve got two kids to feed, and I can’t just go out tomorrow and land another job. Besides, anything I do find won’t be like this one.”
“I’m not going to stay even if Air China asks me to. My dad might not believe it, but I’m a patriot. Its him and the administration who are selling us out.”
“Not so fast, Suz,” she heard a voice say.
She turned around and saw Peter Ricardo-Sanchez standing in the open doorway.
“You’ve got some nerve showing up here,” Molly snarled at him, more hopeless than angry now.

Suz walked toward him and say, “If you’re here to do my dad’s bidding, you’re wasting your time. I’m putting my support behind Yarnal and there’s nothing you or him can do to change my mind. My father’s here, isn’t he? I know him well enough to know he’s probably in that boarding area right there.”
Suz tried to walk past him but Pete stood in front of the door. “Yeah, he’s there, but just hold off on it for a sec. I was the one who suggested we come here, and its up to him what he wants to do.”

“What do you want, Pete?” Suz asked.
“I used to advise your father to go through with this deal, but I overheard your conversation with your father on the phone,” he said as the camera panned over into the large boarding area where Mike Novick was sitting, “I’m here to see things for myself.”

WEBGUARD HEADQUARTERS, LONDON

“So even his own nephew doesn’t now the location of the bomb?” Jack asked his father as they emerged in the lobby of the office building housing WebGuard.
“Frankie McCourt can get pretty paranoid at times, paranoia enough to make Abu Musab al-Zarqawi seem like an overtrusting fool. Besides, if I were a terrorist with a neutron bomb that could change history, perhaps I’d be equally paranoid.”
“McCourt will be demanding answers from Mulligan and I hope he believes your story,” Jack said.

“He will, hopefully. I’ve proven my loyalty to the cause sufficiently to him, I hope. Enough so that sometimes Brooks believes I actually do support Celtic Cross.”
“This gives us a few hours more to find out about the preliminary attacks McCourt is planning, but are we any closer to finding the main device than we were several hours ago?”
“McCourt’s already set a deadline,” Clyde replied, “He’s going to have to reveal the details sooner or later.”

Without warning, darts struck Jack and Clyde in the back and several Chinese agents led by Wu stormed out of a van with Chinese diplomatic plates shouting in Chinese. The men grabbed the two and dragged them into the back of the van, ignoring the commotion caused among the passerby on this street. Wu splashed through a puddle and personally handcuffed Jack.
“Move it! Drive!” Cheng Zhi shouted to the driver in Chinese and the man complied, flooring the accelerator and sending a spray of water all over the sidewalk and drenching several people as they sped off.
Wu said into his phone, “We have Jack Bauer and Clyde Benson in custody.”