Originally Aired 1.13.03
2.10 - Just Won't Die

Palmer is talking to the press, he admits Ron Weiland was right, there is a threat but they get lots of them every day. Palmer always knows more than what he tells the public, it is in the best interest of the people not to be told everything all the time, he has been elected to do this and this is what he is doing. He assures the people that they have the situation well under control and there is no cause for worry. As Palmer walks away he makes an offhanded comment that is was not the Gettysburg Address but it will do. He asks Mike about the situation with Jack and is informed that he is still being held hostage.
Jack is still kneeling on the ground as Nina talks to him, "It didn't have to be like this," it didn't have to be personal. Jack reminds her that it got pretty personal when she killed his wife. Nina defends herself saying she had to, Teri knew too much. Jack goes from another angle and asks about bombing CTU, all the people she used to work with. Nina didn't bomb CTU, she just sold the plans but Jack shrugs it off telling her she did what she had to but she killed her friends. This was too much for Nina who yells at Jack to shut up, they are done talking, they need to just wait for Palmer to call and it will all be over. Jack is looking around and sees a CTU sniper off in the distance. He knows the sniper can't hit Nina where she is so he gets up and starts to walk away saying that he doesn't really want to sit here and wait to die. She tells him to stop and starts to take a few steps after him. She tells him this is his last chance but he keeps going. She shoots at the ground around him and Jack reminds her if she sits him now she will be in violation of the agreement and they'll "slap your ass back in jail." Nina tells Jack that it might happen that way but he'll be dead but he doesn't care. He raises his arms and shrugs saying, "I'm already dead." We see the sniper taking aim as Nina threatens that if Jack takes one more step she'll shoot but the sniper gets the shot off first and gets her in the leg. She goes down and Jack does as well trying not to get shot. Nina tries to crawl away but the other agents close in on her and secure her as Jack watches with satisfaction see looks back with anger.
Miguel and Kim are leaving the jail and are still talking about the bomb. Miguel is getting frisky and tries to get loose by climbing up the back of the truck and doing a gymnastics move. They all end up on the ground and a Zippo falls from someone’s pocket. Before Miguel gets up he rolls over it and picks it up, they all get in the car.
Mike is hanging up the phone and Palmer asks if Jack is okay. Mike says yes and Nina was not hurt seriously, just like he asked. Mike wants to know where Palmer would like Nina sent, back to prison? Palmer says not, send her back to LA, she can share the fate of everyone she has endangered.
Jack is speaking to others on a walkie talkie as two agents hold Nina. He finishes what he has to say and goes to her. Jack leans over and whispers in her hear, the beginning of the sentence is "now you" but the rest of it is inaudible. When he finishes he walks away and she watches him with fear. Jack and some other troops are going to meet the chopper and they pass a fallen soldier, one of them that were after Jack and Nina. Jack crouches beside him and looks closely at a tattoo of a curled snake inside his wrist. This obviously means something to Jack but when he makes eye contact with the other agent, he doesn’t get it.
5:06; Warner Enterprises
Reza and two other agents are in the office as they cuff Reza to the chair. He complains that he can't work like this but one of the agents says he will be doing the typing. The agent needs instructions and Reza gives them to him with resent. Reza reminds the agent that he has just had an argument with his fiancée because he is putting her father, his boss, in jail. His whole life has just gone down the toilet so he wants them to cut him some slack. The agent isn't sympathetic and tells Reza calmly that there is a nuclear bomb somewhere in the city and if he doesn't help he's going to take him back and chain him to the roof so he can have a front row seat when the 'damn thing' goes off.
The guy that has been doing the torturing is washing up as the private investigator lies dead. Ali returns and asks why he hasn't killed her yet, motioning at Kate. The other says he wants to be certain she doesn't know anything before he does. Ali is leaving, he says he wants to pray one last time and the other man encourages to go saying he will finish up here. The two of them hug and Ali leaves. The remaining man turns to Kate and asks her if she wants to suffer like Paul did. Kate says of course not so he asks her again to tell him what she has learned from her fathers files. Kate has already told him that she doesn't know anything and so he gets up and goes behind here where she can't see and chooses a blade.
5:14
Jack is on the chopper with the other agents and is talking with Palmer. He tells Palmer that the soldiers that were at the crash site were American trained. The tattoo of the snake that he found on the body was from a group of soldiers out of Fort Benning called the Coral Snakes. They are trained by a Colonel Ron Samuels. Jack is positive of this information because the tattoo is very distinctive; they tried to recruit him earlier in his career. Palmer says he has never heard of them but Jack thinks that is quite feasible, they are probably buried somewhere in NSA's budget. Whatever the case is they had the flight plan and they probably shot them down. Jack sympathizes with Palmer, it’s hard to believe that is was Americans that shot them down.

Michelle is coming into Masons office to let him know Jack is on the way to Syed Ali's house. Michelle doesn't leave immediately so Mason asks if there was something else. Michelle can't hold it in and blurts out "I'm sorry". Mason just asks he what she is going to do tomorrow and Michelle replies with "What?" so Mason goes on asking her if the bomb doesn't go off she'll probably come back to work there? Michelle says "of course, why wouldn't I?" but Mason has an answer asking if she is happy? He tells her he wanted to be a teacher but the job at CTU paid $5,000 more a year. He made himself miserable and made everyone around him miserable for an extra $5,000 a year. That was his price. Michelle says she is sorry again and Mason takes the opportunity to offer some advise. He says he isn't a big advice giver but she needs to "find something that makes you happy and do it because everything else is just background noise." She leaves and he gets back to work.
Palmer corners Roger and asks him flat out to tell him everything he knows about Ron Samuels from Fort Benning. Roger knows nothing so Palmer presses on, what about the special operations unit the Coral Snakes? Roger still knows nothing. Palmer wants to know how they could run something and him not know about it? Roger guesses that they may be someone’s pet project and Palmer jumps down his throat, how would he know, he just said he didn't know anything. Roger says he was just guessing from past experience, but he'll look into it. Roger leaves and makes eye contact with Sherry as he exits. Palmer tells Mike that the plane was shot down by a US military group, Mike asks why and Palmer thinks Mike is in on it, he wants to arrest him. Sherry thinks that is pretty thin but when Palmer puts it with the chopper that went down and the military evacuation it is stronger. Sherry defends Mike, he's been helping all along, but Mike thinks he's been impeding it and they have a better chance of finding the bomb if they get rid of him. Sherry points out that if he's innocent and the bomb goes off Palmer will be blamed but Mike thinks that if he's guilty they'll be blamed anyway. Palmer wants Mike to find a connection.
The officer is talking on the radio letting them know he is bringing Kim and Miguel there. Miguel wants to get the bandana and the Zippo out of his pocket to start a fire. Kim tells him he is crazy and is reluctant to help him get the stuff to start it. Finally she agrees and pulls her hands over her feet so she can use them and gets the stuff for Miguel. The officer is talking on the radio about the possibility of Kim’s father working for CTU as Kim lights the bandana and puts it in the screen that is separating them. The officer tries to put it out and is distracted from the road and ends up going over an embankment where they crash.
5:27
Kim climbs out of the truck which is on its side, and as she gets to the top it wobbles, it is unstable. She goes in the drivers side window and takes the keys to unlock herself. She picks up the radio and Miguel asks her not to talk, but she does. She gives them the information as to where they are and what happened and then exits that part of the truck and re-enters in the back. She goes to Miguel who looks rough and lays with her head on his stomach.
Kate gets asked again who she told and he cuts her ear when she denies it. Outside Jack is with the rest of the agents and they have found 2 people in the house together and one of them must be Ali, Mason is sending more men as he is trying to control another nosebleed.
Reza points out to the agent that Bob accesses the files twice as often as he does as we hear Marie in the next room, she wants to see him. The agents let her through and she hugs him again saying that she didn't mean what she meant before and that she is, in fact, going to marry him. They share a kiss and she goes back into the next room to wait.
Kate is crying as the guy puts a cloth on her ear that he cut. He tries to comfort her "It's not nearly as bad as it feels." Jack and his agents are outside entering the house with Jack in the lead. In the room Kate pleads that he doesn't have to kill her, by the time someone finds her they will be 100 miles away. He is behind her with a gun and lets her know that something terrible is going to happen very soon, this will be easier. He cocks the gun but there is a noise outside. He looks up and sees a distinct silhouette of a man with a gun through the skylight. He lets a round go through the walls of the room as the agents, Jack in the lead, hit the deck. Jack wants them to fall back as the man with Kate yells that he has a woman and will kill her. Jack asks for the shield outside as inside the man reasons that if they are not negotiating and not shooting then it must be him that they want alive. The agents storm the room behind the shield and they land a shot on the guy. Jack grabs Kate and starts to move her towards the door telling her to take a deep breath, everything will be fine. The agent alerts Jack to the fact that the man is going unconscious, Jack wants to know if he took anything but the other agent says he was watching him the whole time, he must have had it in his mouth already. The decide it was cyanide and the agent starts CPR. Jack stands and yells "damn it" at the walls but recovers. He wants fingerprints, everything, confirmation that this is Syed Ali as he leaves the room.
5:38
Miguel and Kim are waiting the emergency crews to arrive. Miguel thinks Kim should go but she wants to wait. He insists that she leaves and she cries and thanks him for everything, as soon as it’s all over she promises to find him. As the sirens draw nearer she kisses him and runs out of the truck into the woods. Kim pauses behind a tree and watches the rescue team descend on the car before taking off.
Jack comes outside to where Kate is who now has a cloth for her ear. He offers her a cup of water that he has been carrying which she takes and then he gives her his jacket. Jack perches himself down on the arm of the other lawn chair and introduces himself. He asks her how she got here and Kate says she was trying to help her sister, she hired a private investigator and they didn't know anything. Jack stops her ramblings and asks if the dead man in the bathroom is the private investigator and Kate says yes, his name is Paul Copling. Jack asks how many of them there were, Kate replies 2, one left before they got there. Jacks wants to know if she knows his name and Kate says it was Syed Ali. Jack wants all the information about him and gets from questioning Kate that he was tall and thin in black clothes but she didn't see his car. Jack lets the other agents know through the walkie-talkie that Ali is still alive and he gives the description that Kate gave. Kate goes on to say that she came here to help her sister, Marie Warner, she was supposed to get married today.
Sherry brings out the information about a back channel communications called 'Op Com' which was put back into action a while ago by Roger, eyes only. Palmer wants them to call the Attorney General, they are going to get him.
Jack is back in the bathroom with the body but talking to Tony. He asks Tony to run a check on Kate Warner and Tony doesn’t think he heard right. He lets Jack know about everything that has happened with the family. Tony asks Jack if Kate will talk to him since her family isn't cooperating and Jack says he thinks so but he wants Tony to run everything on them again from the beginning and start connecting the dots. Jack finishes with Tony and asks one of the other agents over the radio how Kate is doing and he is told "not good". Jack says that when she is ready, bring her back up to the bathroom.
Mike found the files he needed but they need someone internal to open them. Sherry pipes up with the name of a retired department director who still has an active code and gives it to Mike all while talking on the phone. Sherry says that this will give them all the information that they need and Mike leaves. Palmer goes to Sherry and tells her that she is doing an incredible job here today, he had forgotten how talented she is at this stuff. Sherry says she has worked with him for 25 years, some of his skills are bound to rub off on her. Palmer, with his hand on her shoulder, tells her he's glad she's here, Her response is that she's always been here, you remember that.
5:51
Tony and Michelle are still at CTU and they get an update from Barbara at the Warner office, they have nothing yet but Reza is cooperating. Tony ponders that it doesn't make sense how this "white bred family from Pasadena" could be involved in this. Michelle asks if he believes Bob and Tony says that there is nothing in his profile that adds up to this. Michelle thinks there is some sort of connection, Kate was abducted for a reason. Tony asks if there is anything else and Michelle says yes, she was talking to Mason... Tony asks "And?" so she continues that she knows this is hardly the time but she doesn't know how much time she has so...if he wants to go out sometime. Tony tries to interrupt her but she ploughs ahead saying he doesn't have to say anything, she just wanted him to know how she felt. Tony, with hesitation, says he feels the same way, he's just been keeping his distance because...Michelle cuts in "Because of what happened between you and Nina." Tony looks away, then down and says "yeah". Michelle asks if he thinks she just wants him for his information? and Tony smiles this away. He asks "So what are we saying? If we save LA from a nuclear bomb then you and I can get together for dinner and a movie?" She smiles as he leaves and her expression changes ever-so-slightly to look a bit...sinister.
Jack and Kate are talking again and she is just rambling saying that they were talking about Kate after they killed Paul and they looked at her a couple of times like she wasn't important anymore, Ali and the other man embraced. Jack asks if they said anything and Kate confirms that they did but it was mostly in Arabic. This arouses Jacks suspicions and he asks how she knows it was Arabic. Kate says her family lived in Saudi Arabia before and Jack asks if she heard anything at all. Kate says she heard the word "salat" which is prayer so Jack asks the others for a list of every Mosque around there. Kate asks stupidly if that helped and Jack smiles, "Yes, I think it did." He tells her that protocol now was to send her back to CTU but the only thing is she is the only one who knows what Ali looks like, he needs her to ID him.
Roger is talking with some others and his phone rings. When he realizes who it is he steps away so he can be alone. He tells the other person that they know better than to call him there and the voice that answers is Sherry. She tells him that they know about Op Com because she told them. They will connect him to the plane but he needs to "stay the course" and everything will work out.
Reza finds the shipping order but says it can't be, the date was when him and Bob were both in Europe and the company is not international, someone has hacked in. When he checks the information on it Reza finds it came from his own laptop. The agent asks who had access but Reza says no one...except...before he can finish his sentence the agent is shot and Reza stands, it is Marie. She tells him she didn't expect him to find anything, "I underestimated you." She's pointing the gun at him now.
Jack and Kate get in a car and leave the house
Reza asks in disbelief if the last 2 years have been an act? Did they mean nothing? He doesn't understand and he demands that she say something. Her reply is "Reza, you really are, very sweet." and she shoots him.
6:00

Miscellaneous Thoughts:
-Nice move off the back of the truck Miguel!
- I think Jack is a super healer. Now he has no limp from the crash and I couldn't seem to detect the tear in his pants anymore either.
- The whisper in Nina’s ear - I think that is the most suspenseful thing that has happened all year. The camera work where we see the side of Jack, then it goes behind and then we see the side again. It was just angled enough that there is no way we can figure out what he said. The best I can come up with are the first 2 words "now you" possibly followed by "get to see". Somewhere in the middle there is the word "I". No matter how loud I turn it up I still can't hear. Even the closed captioning doesn't give it away. Now my only question is do we get to find out what he said or do we have to wait for the next 24 book to come out to read it.
-As it turns out, when Kiefer and the rest of the cast did a 'press day' with BBC, Kiefer admitted what he said to Sarah Clarke as they filmed the take: "Why did you marry Xander when you know I am madly in love with you?" THey may have dubbed over what he actually said so you could hear nothing, but I thought that was pretty cute!
- It was a nice touch having Nina get mad a Jack and telling him to shut up when he was accusing her of killing the people she worked with, bombing CTU. This shows her more human side which I think she has still.
-I like how these people are thinking sending the people who are possibly in on the bomb to LA so they can get blown up too.
- It is really interesting to hear Jack talking about his possible recruitment with the Coral Snakes. In this sort of show it doesn't allow for much speculation of another career path.
-Could that phone be older that Jack was talking to Palmer on? Vintage. I guess bigger may be easier to hear on but it looks ridiculous
-Palmer really goes after Roger and just jumps down his throat. That's great. He's really mad
-So is there anyone good left on Palmers staff?
-I was under the impression that all the vehicles would be Fords this season but the cop car was a GMC.
-Miguel has all these bright ideas that never turn out very well. Sure Miguel, lets light the car we're travelling in on fire. Yeah, sounds like a great idea.
-Was Kim standing on the cop when she was on the radio? Where else could she stand?
-Miguel looks really rough.
-I really don't think Kate’s ear thing is that big a deal. Honestly, just like getting pierced only bigger. Even the guy that did it thought she was a wuss "it feels worse than it is."
-I really like fatherly-advice-giving Mason. I also think he would make a good teacher. Nice touch.
-Love the agent with Reza. I'd like to see him chained to the roof of CTU. Is there roof left?
-So Jack to yell at the walls when the guy kicked the bucket. Lovely
-Kim promises to find Miguel when this is all over...if the bomb goes off they'll be no Miguel left to find.
-The chivalrous Jack to offer Kate his coat. If it wasn't Kate I would love it.
-And again I HATE KATE! I really really really want to see her killed. Hell, just blow up LA to get rid of her. It's worth it.
-The description she gave of Ali - totally useless. That could be anyone on the street.
-Dinner and a movie if the bomb doesn't go off...nice touch but definitely isn't the time.
-I think Michelle is bad news, that was a pretty sinister look
-I couldn't believe Marie. The only question is if Bob is involved as well...or Kate somehow
-If this was reality I think Jack would have laughed right at Kate after she asked if that helped. What kind of idiotic question is that?!? I would have laughed at her and asked "what do you think" Grrr.
-If Jack hooks up with Kate I will cry, I really will.