Not even at the halfway point of this hellacious day, two planes have collided outside of D.C., there has been an attempt on a chemical plant in Ohio, the President’s husband’s life has been threatened and the nation remains at risk. When Dubaku’s evil plan escalates to his boss, General Juma (guest star Tony Todd), the stakes are raised and steadfast President Taylor faces a deepening foreign policy dilemma. Meanwhile, Jack Bauer’s staunch defiance to uncover conspirators inside the government has critical consequences. As Bauer’s by-the-book government adversary Senator Mayer (guest star Kurtwood Smith) heads to the White House for a meeting, another high-impact terror threat develops stateside. Malevolent mastermind and Starkwood honcho Jonas Hodges (guest star Jon Voight) provokes the situation while Agent Walker leads the grueling investigation in the field…and in the water. Stressed-out FBI agents struggle to cope with the circumstances, and Vice President Hayworth is brought into the fold. [Edit]

Disguised as an orderly, Udo, a soldier of Juma's, sneaks into the hospital where Dubaku is recuperating and poisons him with a lethal injection that induces a heart attack. Meanwhile, President Taylor watches Juma on television giving a defiant speech about the American invasion of Sangala. The recording was probably made before the invasion, so where is Juma now?

In a warehouse near the Capitol building, Juma secretly assembles his men. Young Laurent, Dubaku's son, is among them. Udo calls to report on Dubaku's death. Juma tells him that Laurent must never know of his father's cowardice.

At the FBI, Chloe gets a call from Jack, who asks her to delete Ryan Burnett's name from the list of corrupt government officials. She hesitates, but does so just before Janis enters, asking to help with processing the list, and lingering at Chloe's station just a little too long for comfort.

Tony and Jack arrive at the White House. As a still-wanted felon, Tony must wait outside. Meanwhile, Burnett calls Juma asking if the attack can be delayed because he's stuck at the White House. Their call is interrupted as he's welcomed by Ethan Kanin. Kanin asks Senator Mayer to quietly drop his prosecution of Jack Bauer in exchange for the President's support of his war crimes bill. If he doesn't play along, the President may simply pardon Bauer. Mayer is outraged.

Jack arrives at Bill Buchanan's office and pulls a gun on him, demanding to know Burnett's whereabouts. Bill won't divulge the information without knowing what's going on, but Jack doesn't want to implicate Bill in this. Bill tells Jack that he's throwing away a chance to walk away with a clean slate, but Jack says there's no other way. He knocks Bill out with a sleeper hold.

Renee calls Larry and tells him that she believes Dubaku was murdered. She bristles angrily when Larry suggests the theory is actually Bauer's. She should be the one calling the shots, not him. A hospital security guard brings Renee a security photo of the mysterious orderly's license plate.

Janis has discovered that a name has been deleted. Chloe insists on "investigating" this herself, further inflaming Janis' suspicions. Chloe calls Jack and warns him that time is running out. In the West Wing, Senator Mayer tells Burnett to prepare a press release that will make it politically toxic for the President to pardon Bauer; they can use the fact that her husband was shot to make it look like President Taylor is acting emotionally and not rationally. The Senator is summoned to the President's side. Burnett calls Juma and tells him he's leaving now; he's to rendezvous with Juma at 21:30 hours. However, Jack bursts into the room and tasers Burnett.

Janis goes to Larry. She has found the deleted name and even unscrambled Chloe's cell phone conversations with Jack. Chloe is arrested. As the President talks to Senator Mayer about Jack, Larry calls the White House and conveys his belief that Jack is illegally interrogating Burnett as they speak. And indeed, Jack is tasering Burnett again and again.

Just as Jack is about to get a confession, a security team bursts in, accompanied by the President and the Senator. Jack tells the Senator that whatever happens now is on his conscience, but the Senator is even more outraged to find that Jack's source is Tony Almeida, a wanted fugitive. Ethan Kanin advises the President to trust Bauer, but she ultimately has him arrested. She offers Burnett immunity from prosecution for treason if he talks, but Burnett stays mum.

Renee tracks Udo's car to the warehouse were Juma and his soldiers are stationed. She reports this to Larry, who tells Janis to scramble a chopper and then call the metro police. Renee eavesdrops as Juma continues to hide Dubaku's death from Laurent. Juma orders the soldiers to move out; Larry and his men are still ten minutes away. The soldiers board a cabin boat. As the boat sails away from the dock, Renee leaps off the pier and just barely manages to scramble aboard. However, she accidentally drops her cell phone into the Potomac.

Buchanan revises and calls Tony. They bring each other up to speed. Immunity for Burnett was the only plan. Tony's original intel source is now dead. Meanwhile, Renee spies on Juma showing tactical maps to his soldiers, but she can't see the maps. The boat drops anchor and the soldiers suit up in scuba equipment, diving into the water. Lauren stays behind to stand guard. Renee sneaks into the cabin to find that the target is the White House. Laurent nearly catches her, but she dives off the boat and desperately begins to swim for shore as Laurent fires at her. Juma and his men swim into an underwater catacomb and drill into the rocks above. They pull themselves up into a dry tunnel. As Laurent pursues Renee through the water, Juma and his men are ready to carry out their attack on the White House. [Edit]