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While the people of the Counter Terrorist Unit watched helplessly, Marwan's (Arnold Vosloo) nuclear missile was launched from somewhere in the Midwest, most likely headed toward a major city on one of the coasts, leaving CTU about three hours, coincidentally, to somehow stop it from reaching its target. Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) has no luck trying to engage the captured Marwan in some sort of negotiation. "I'm getting what I want," he tells Jack. Edgar (Louis Lombardi) notices that Marwan received a call from Richard Heller (Logan Marshall-Green), of all people, about a week ago, and Richard is brought in for questioning again. Tony (Carlos Bernard) ruefully notes of Jack and Audrey that while they seemed like a fun couple yesterday, Jack has since been responsible for her husband's death and now may have to torture her brother. Audrey begs Jack to let her talk to Richard for five minutes before Jack begins his hardball tactics. When Richard won't talk to her, Heller (William Devane) shows up, and gets the young man to acknowledge that an unsavory couple may have had access to his cell phone during the time in question. CTU manages to get an address for the couple, and Jack takes a team there. Before leaving with Jack, Tony has an emotional discussion with Michelle (Reiko Aylesworth) about their future together. At the apartment complex, CTU encounters a familiar and very dangerous foe. Meanwhile, somewhere deep under the White House, Logan (Gregory Itzin) and Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) engage in a political power struggle with Don Ashton (Denis Arndt), the overly ambitious Speaker of the House.