Now that Kiefer Sutherland's run as President Tom Kirkland in "Designated Survivor" has ended due to cancellation, he's free to reprise his iconic role as Jack Bauer. From his prior statements, it's easy to get the impression that he's done with Bauer forever, but (1) he was obviously excited about "Designated Survivor" at the time; and (2) he wouldn't need to be in a new mini-series for much filming time in order to give closure to Bauer's storyline.
Okay, time for fan fic.... I'm assuming a full 12 "episodes" of the commonly floated idea of "24: Saving Jack Bauer." Here's how I'd start it.
The following takes place between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm (Pacific time). All events occur in real time.
8:00 pm (Los Angeles)
KATE MORGAN is in a seedy bar. Two empty beer glasses sit on the bar in front of her, while she drinks from a third glass steadily. The bar TV is tuned to CNN and the current story is about the tensions between the U.S. and Russia over a downed American surveillance drone that Russia has recovered and refuses to turn over. In response, the President has ordered more American military aircraft to bases in Poland and Ukraine.
A smug looking guy saunters over, sits next to Kate, and proceeds to hit on her. She tells him she's not interested in company. He tells her she looks like she could use a good massage, and he puts his arm around her shoulders. Big mistake! Kate grabs his hand, twists it behind his back, and shoves him away with her foot. A friend of the guy's calls Kate a nasty name and charges her. She dodges his attack and delivers a sharp jab to his back as he rushes past her. The smug looking guy gets up and takes a step toward Kate, until she does a spinning back kick to his head, knocking him out. The guy's friend turns around, ready for more fighting. Kate growls, "Walk away, you don't want to mess with me."
Kate's phone rings. Keeping her eyes on the guy, she answers it. It's CHLOE O'BRIAN. Chloe says, "Kate, it's time to rescue Jack Bauer."
10:12 pm (Chicago)
TONY ALMEIDA is brokering a black market deal to sell a bunch of guns, silencers, optical scopes, com links, and other equipment to gang members. He appears to be alone, whereas the gang has four people. After inspecting the merchandise, the gang leader nods approvingly. Tony gestures toward the briefcase of cash and asks, "Are we good?" The gang leader chuckles and points to himself. "We are good. You, not so much." They draw their guns and point them at Tony. "We're gonna keep our money and your stuff, and you can keep your life."
Tony smirks. "You don't want to do this."
"Watch me," the gang leader says. He motions on his followers to start loading the merchandise into their car. Then a red dot appears on the gang leader's chest, and then there's a loud gunshot. The gang leader drops dead. Three more shots follow quickly, and the other gang members die too.
Tony packs up the equipment and takes the briefcase of cash.
11:23 pm (Washington, D.C.)
It's a top level meeting of the President's national security staff: the President, the National Security Adviser, a couple of military leaders, and the Chief of Staff. The topic is the downed surveillance drone. The Air Force General is explaining that the Russian military is no doubt trying to reverse engineer the advanced avionics and software of the surveillance drone. If they are able to do so, they will cut about 3/4 of the current drone technology gap between the U.S. and Russia. The President wants to know what steps can be taken to prevent this from happening. The general says that the primary failsafe is remote destruction, but the Air Force has not been able to verify that the remote order was received. Most likely the Russian military put the captured drone in a Faraday Cage to block signals.
"Okay, what are the backup protocols?" the President asks.
There are small explosive devices inside the drone that are supposed to go off in the event of tampering. They are just large enough to shred the internal components of the drone. However, the general admits, these are not foolproof, especially with regard to ensuring destruction of the software. [insert technobabble about opening sockets, etc.]
"Please tell me that the software is encrypted," the President says.
"Sir, the software is written in machine language, but it can't be encrypted in the normal sense, without leaving the encryption key on the device itself. It is, however, sealed behind a firewall." [more technobabble.]
"How protected is it?"
The general estimates that it will take the Russian military anywhere from 18 to 48 more hours to hack into the software.
"Well, that's it, then. We have to get that drone back before then," the President declares. "I want a work-up of proposals to make the Russians turn the drone over. We'll reconvene in two hours."
8:31 pm (Los Angeles)
Kate Morgan (apparently not drunk) drives up to a rundown apartment complex. She checks her phone and goes into the building. She goes to one specific unit and knocks on the door. Chloe O'Brian opens the door, and Kate enters the apartment.
"How do we even know if Jack is still alive?" Kate asks. "He's been gone four years."
Chloe opens her laptop, does her hacking stuff, and pulls up a video feed. It's taken from a Russian detention facility. It shows a gaunt figure huddled in the corner of a small cell. The conditions look awful. Kate peers carefully.
"Oh my god, Jack, what have they been doing to you?" she whispers.
Chloe says (for the benefit of the TV audience who missed "24: Live Another Day"), "Four years ago, Jack traded his life for mine when the Russians captured me. I owe it to him to try to break him out of there."
"We're going to need help to do this," Kate says.
Chloe explains that she's been trying to track down BELCHEK. She also knows some former CTU personnel who might be willing to help out of loyalty to Jack.
"I don't think we can count on CTU, not with the way things are going with Russia right now," Kate says.
"Let's get started," Chloe says.
6:45 am (somewhere in Russia)
At a military base, Russian hackers are trying to hack their way into the control software of the downed U.S. surveillance drone. Lots of technobabble here in Russian, translated through subtitles for the audience. The gist of it is that despite the hectoring by the commanding officer, the hackers are finding it more challenging than they expected. The officer issues a thinly-veiled threat, expecting successful results soon.
8:50 pm (Los Angeles)
Kate and Chloe drive toward LAX. Chloe uses her computer to make flight reservations.
6:58 am (somewhere in Russia)
Prison guards head toward a cell, open the door, and drag the prisoner out. It's JACK BAUER. He can barely stand, or maybe he can't and needs the support of the guards. A man walks out of the shadows toward Bauer and the guards.
"Mr. Bauer, I must commend you on holding out so long," he says. "The good news is that my superiors have given up on getting anything useful out of you."
Jack looks up.
"The good news for me is that my superiors are letting me have my way with you. You see, my name is Gregor Stolnavich. You murdered my uncle four years ago." [His uncle was Anatol Stolnavich, who actually was killed by Mark Boudreau, not Jack Bauer, but whatever.]
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