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Palmer asks Novick how long he has known
about Prescott's plan to get him out of office.
Although Novick claims to still be on his side,
Palmer accuses him of aligning with the Vice
President. Novick begs him to change his stance
on the attack, but Palmer conveys that the trust
between them is gone forever.

Prescott calls on another witness who is at the
O.C. in Oregon. The haggard face of NSA head
Roger Stanton appears on a monitor, and he
describes how he was tortured on orders from
the President. Palmer accuses him of lying about
the location of the nuclear bomb. Stanton
explains how he arrived at the O.C. to find his
underling Eric Rayburn had been fired for
wanting to bring in the military. He says that
Palmer was immediately adamant about not
using military action. Stanton believes that
Palmer's indecisive and erratic behavior made
him terrified of any military engagement. He
thinks that Palmer wanted to convince himself
that he could avoid war by showing that an
American was behind the bomb threat.

Chappelle questions why Tony ordered I.T.
people to work on a retrieval project. Tony
explains that Jack found the chip that could show
that the Cyprus file was forged, but that the chip
was damaged. Chappelle steps away and calls
the White House. He leaves a message for the
Vice President.

Prescott plays a video of Stanton's torture at the
O.C. The group shudders at what they see.
Palmer tells the cabinet that he did order the
torture, but that Stanton ultimately confessed to
knowledge of the bomb. Stanton says that he
made that confession only because he was
weakened by the torture. Palmer informs them
that Stanton also gave information about the
Coral Snake team and the bomb at Norton
Airfield. However, Prescott says that there is
nothing more on the tape. Palmer insists there
has been deliberate sabotage of evidence
because he questioned Stanton further. Prescott
gives Palmer the opportunity to present evidence
on behalf of his defense, but Palmer says he has
not been given time to do so. He deems his
extreme actions warranted by the day's events.
An aide hands Prescott a note, and Prescott
informs the group that CTU Division Chief Ryan
Chappelle just sent him an urgent message. Jack
Bauer has evidence to prove the inaccuracy of
the Cyprus recording. Prescott calls for the group
to wait for that evidence to be analyzed. Palmer
breathes a sigh of relief.

Chappelle checks on Tony and Michelle's
progress. They tell him that they did not find the
audiofiles, but that they can figure out who
programmed the information. Chappelle makes a
comment that Jack wasted their time, and he
walks off disgusted.

Kate becomes upset. She feels like everything
that happened today was her fault because her
sister may have started a war. Jack comforts her,
explaining that there was nothing she could have
done to prevent it. Suddenly, Jack's cell phone
rings. Tony and Michelle tell him that,
unfortunately, there were no audio files left on the
chip. However, Michelle did find junk code that
may have been put there by the chip's
programmer. She traced the sequence to a
hacker named Alex Hewitt. He has a file with the
FBI, and may have been the one who fabricated
the recording. Jack asks for Hewitt's last known
address, and he tells Kate that he is going off to
track down a lead.

Palmer is connected to Chappelle and Jack, who
tells Palmer that the chip was damaged and can
not prove that the Cyprus tape is a fake. He also
says that a man named Peter Kingsley is part of
a group manipulating events to instigate a war in
order to control the Middle East oil. Palmer asks
Jack for hard evidence, and gets Jack's
assurance that he is absolutely convinced that
the Cyprus recording was forged.

Palmer turns back to the cabinet members on the
monitor to tell them that the evidence is not yet
available but will be in the future. Regardless,
Prescott calls for a vote. Novick pulls Palmer
aside to beg him to change his mind and
authorize an attack. Palmer refuses once again.
The cabinet begins their voice poll, deciding for
or against Palmer being allowed to remain in
office.

As he pulls up to Hewitt's loft, Jack calls Tony for
a briefing on the suspect. While working for the
State Department, Hewitt had been caught
manipulating files. He attempted suicide in
custody and was recently released from a
psychiatric prison. Tony tells him that Hewitt has
no connection to Kingsley.

With a split in cabinet members, the deciding
vote falls upon the Secretary of State. He goes
against Palmer. Prescott tells Palmer that he can
appeal this decision before Congress in four
days. Until then, Palmer must remove himself
from the decision making process. Secret
Service Agent Pierce arrives with two Marines.
They escort Palmer to a holding room -- not as
bodyguards but as wardens.

As the bombers make their way toward the
Middle East, Prescott is sworn in as President of
the United States.

Jack enters Hewitt's ransacked loft. There is no
one inside. He hides behind an alcove when he
hears footsteps approaching the door. Sherry
Palmer comes into the loft and calls out for Alex
Hewitt.



Jack watches from a hidden alcove in Alex
Hewitt's loft as Sherry Palmer instructs her
bodyguard to look for Hewitt.

A military advisor briefs Prescott on the bombers'
location. Prescott orders the advisor to proceed
with the attack as planned. "Yes, Mr. President,"
the man responds. Meanwhile, Novick enters the
room where Palmer is detained and asks his ex-
boss for the war key codes. Palmer hands over a
small wallet with a key card. The military officer
known as the "Football" takes the card and slides
it into a portable scanner. The codes are
confirmed.

Chappelle calls the CTU staff into a meeting to
bring them up to date on the presidential
transition. Tony questions whether Palmer was
taken out because of his stance on the attack,
suggesting that what Jack is doing has now
become even more relevant. Chappelle orders
him not to expend any more resources on Jack.
Tony secretly tells Michelle that he's going to
reach out to someone on Prescott's staff in the
instance Jack does get the proof he's looking for.

Jack hears Sherry tell her bodyguard that Peter
Kingsley's people must have removed anything
important from Hewitt's loft. Jack knocks out the
bodyguard and handcuffs him. He pushes Sherry
to the couch and asks what she is doing there.
She says that she is working on Palmer's behalf,
but Jack doesn't believe her. Although she knows
that Jack is looking for Hewitt because he
created the tapes, Sherry refuses to answer any
of his questions. Jack fires his gun at her and hits
the wall. Sherry admits that she knows that
Hewitt is an audio technician who was hired by
Kingsley to fabricate the Cyprus recording.
Kingsley wants the United States to start a war
with the Middle East because of his oil interests
there. Jack realizes that his bullet hole in the wall
let a stream of light into the darkened room. He
goes over to the hole and fires more rounds,
calling out to whomever is inside to come out. A
frightened Hewitt emerges with his hands in the
air. Hewitt pleads with Sherry to help him, and
she advises him to not say anything in front of
Jack. Jack sticks the barrel of his gun to Hewitt's
neck. "You're going to talk to me now," he says.

Jack tries to get Hewitt to admit that he forged
the Cyprus recording, but he won't reveal
anything. Hewitt will only speak to Sherry
because she promised to help him. Jack turns to
Sherry seeking the truth. She acknowledges that
she wants to protect herself because she will be
incriminated on Hewitt's tapes. Sherry had
wanted to enact revenge on her ex-husband by
bringing down his presidency. Kingsley only
coveted money, and told Sherry that the bomb
would never go off. She sought out Hewitt in
order to remove herself from the connection to
Kingsley. Sherry demands immunity from Jack,
and says that the only criminal that needs to be
prosecuted is Hewitt. Jack gets Hewitt from the
other room so that Sherry can deal with him.

In his confinement room, Palmer explains his
situation to Secret Service Agent Pierce. Alluding
to Pierce's son being in the Navy, Palmer asks
for help in contacting Jack.

Michelle assigns Carrie to work on one of her
duties and won't explain to her why she is doing
so. Carrie believes she is really trying to help
Jack behind Chappelle's back. Tony comes up to
inquire about the situation between the two
women, and he persuades Michelle to explain
herself. Michelle admits to doing a task for
District. After Carrie walks away, Tony tells
Michelle that Carrie probably doesn't believe her
lie. Carrie then approaches Chappelle and tells
him her suspicions. She feels that Tony is unfit to
run CTU because he and Michelle are working
with Jack.