President Taylor and Olivia emotionally reconcile their differences. The moment is interrupted as one of Juma's men pulls the President away. Jack and Buchanan form a plan. Jack opened canisters of CH-4 in the lockdown room just before surrendering. The room will soon be saturated with natural gas. A single spark from a single bullet will ignite it and take out enough of Juma's men so they can rescue the President. Jack plans to rush Juma's men shortly to try to get off the shot.
The President demands that Juma release the hostages before she reads his statement. Instead, Juma shoots one of the hostages and threatens to kill the rest if she does not comply. She reads his statement on a live feed. The Vice President, watching from a secure location, orders that the feed be shut down, but it can't be. Larry calls, convinced that Juma is on a suicide mission, and again begs the VP to order that the FBI initiate a rescue. Yet the VP refuses, still convinced that Juma can be negotiated with.
Buchanan tells Jack that Juma's not working alone. He overheard Juma talking on a SAT phone coordinating with somebody on the outside. He tells Jack to find out who it is and then dives for the lockdown door. He manages to get off the shot, triggering the CH-4 explosion. As Jack jumps into action, Larry orders his men to move in under his authority -- and over the VP's continued protests. In the melee, Aaron Pierce manages to spirit the President and Olivia away to safety. Juma's men are cut down, and after a tense standoff, Jack manages to kill Juma as well. Jack runs back to the lockdown room, only to find the body of Bill Buchanan, who was killed in the explosion.
The FBI wants to move the President to Andrews Air Force base for her own safety, but she insists on staying at the White House. She and Olivia then cement their reconciliation. With Jack just sitting, stunned, near Bill's body, Renee tells him that the President is secure. She tries to comfort him but he is wracked with guilt. It was supposed to be Jack who set off the explosion. Jack then tells Renee and Larry that Juma wasn't working alone, and he begs Larry to let him speak to Ryan Burnett. He swears that he won't torture or touch Burnett in any way. He will only scare Burnett into talking. Instead, Larry has Jack placed back into custody, over Renee's objection that Jack's plan is a good one. Renee then passes on to Ethan Kanin the info that Juma wasn't working alone. She also tells him Jack's plan. Ethan calls Larry Moss and orders him to release Jack and implement his plan to question Burnett -- on Ethan's authority. The President won't be told.
At Starkwood, Jonas Hodges is surprised but calm at the news that the President is still alive and that Juma is dead. He is still getting what he wanted out of his deal with Juma; the shipment will arrive in a couple of hours. Time to nail down a few targets.
The President wants Olivia brought on to her staff as a Special Advisor. Ethan objects, because during the campaign, Olivia leaked damaging personal information about her opponent to the press and nearly cost the election. Olivia is a liability. President Taylor believes that Olivia has changed, and she asks Ethan to offer the job to her himself.
Larry berates Renee for going behind his back to Ethan, and orders her to go back to HQ and turn in her badge. She is suspended indefinitely. Jack tells Larry that Walker's the best agent he's got, but Larry says he can't ignore her circumvention of his authority.
At Starkwood, twelve targets are found along the eastern seaboard within 300 kilometers of "the base." The population density is high, causing a large kill ratio. Yet Hodges hopes he'll never have to find out. A memo is intercepted from the FBI regarding Jack's release to question Burnett. A man named Quinn is dispatched to Burnett's hospital to deal with the problem. As Jack and Larry arrive at the hospital, Quinn, disguised in scrubs, enters an old man's hospital room and smothers him to death. As duty nurses are distracted by this, Quinn downloads hospital information about Burnett's room and the schematics of the building. He then slips into an access hatch and draws a gun.
Olivia visits Aaron Pierce in triage to thank him. Ethan finds her and offers her the Special Advisor job. Olivia is surprised, but takes the job, conceding that she overstepped her bounds during the campaign. She then angrily blames Ethan for allowing corruption right under his nose, calling him a failure and suggests that he should have already tendered his resignation. Ethan is offended, but Olivia swears she will find out who betrayed her mother and make sure they can never do it again.
At the hospital, Jack is left alone with a just-reviving Burnett. Larry watches nearby via video feed. Burnett is terrified and is about to confess everything when suddenly, Larry's sound cuts out and the picture freezes. From above the room, Quinn opens a panel and drops in a canister of nerve gas, almost immediately immobilizing Jack and Burnett. As Jack watches, Quinn drops into the room and cuts Burnett's throat. He then smashes the room's electronic security lock and leaves through the roof. Jack revives moments later and, as Larry pounds on the door, Jack pursues Quinn.
Quinn calls Starkwood to report his success. Jack has been framed for Burnett's death. Jack loses track of Quinn and instead focuses on escaping from the hospital. Larry breaks down the door to find Burnett dead and no Jack. Jack calls Larry to tell him that he is being set up. Larry says that, if he's innocent, they will sort it out. Jack knows that whoever did this wants Jack out of play. He urges Larry not to get distracted because this threat isn't over. Jack runs off into the night, a fugitive once more.
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